By Michael Coulson: After an encouraging start in the minor sessions -- the gross in the afternoon actually exceeded the low estimate -- buyers sat on their hands in the main, evening, session of Stephan Welz &Co's sale in Cape Town this week. None of the top 15 estimates were sold, so although the sell-through rate was respectable, the total take was disappointing. A consolation, though, was record prices for local artist Peter Clarke, who is gaining recognition late in his career after a recent major retrospective of his work.

On Tuesday morning, 70 of the 106 lots of SA art sold (66%) for about R510 000, about 97% of the low estimate of about R535 000. Top price was R28 000, for a Gabriel de Jongh landscape (estimate R15 000-R18 000). The afternoon fared even better: while only 46 of the 74 lots sold (62%), a gross of R945 000 was almost 10% above the low estimate (bearing in mind that reported prices are "hammer plus", estimates are just for the hammer price) of about R860 000. Best prices here were R84 000 and R67 000 for two Angus Taylor sculptures (both est R15 000-R20 000), R50 000 for a Pieter van der Westhuizen portrait (est R15 000-R20 000) and R47 000 for Hendrik Niemann's Three Flower Sellers (est R12 000-R16 000).

In the early evening sale on behalf of the Lights From Africa charity, six of the 11 lots sold for just over R60 000, against the low estimate of R86 000.
This good reception for minor and upcoming names made the evening all the more of a letdown. In all, 55 of the 104 lots sold, or 53%, which is no disaster, but with all the casualties at the top, a gross of just under R4.9m was barely a quarter of the low estimate of R18.9m. Totalling the four sessions, 177 or 60% of the 295 lots sold for just under R6.4m, about 31% of the low estimate of R20.34m.
Clarke's Ruined Houses at Simon's Town (the artist's childhood home, from which the family was evicted under the Group Areas Act) was bid up to R504 000 (est R180 000-R200 000) and his Netball Players to R269 000 (est R100 000-R120 000. Other leading prices in this section were R392 000 for an Alexis Preller Figure Astride a Horse (est R220 000-R260 000), R269 000 each for landscapes by Pierneef (est R260 000-R300 000) and David Botha (est, scarcely credibly, a mere R40 000-R50 000) and R224 000 each for an Alexander Rose-Innes view of District Six (est R100 000-R120 000) and a Maurice van Essche portrait (est R220 000-R260 000).
Of the most represented artists, Gabriel de Jongh and Rose-Innes sold five of six, Clarke four of six, Walter Battiss three of six, Gregoire Boonzaaier and Pranas Domsaitis all five, Adriaan Boshoff and Tinus de Jongh four of five, and Dino Paravano and Pierneef three of five.