Thought to date from c.1800, these unsigned 6ft 5in by 2ft 51/2in (1.97m x 75cm) canvases had been entered by a Danish family who had bought them some 15 years previously, but couldn’t remember where. They were thought to have been the work of a local Javanese artist who had learned Western painting techniques from Dutch colonial settlers.
Apart from their obvious rarity, the
paintings had tremendous decorative appeal thanks to the delicate rendition of local batik printed fabrics. At least 12 telephone bidders contested the lot, a London-based dealer eventually triumphing at DKr970,000 (£85,090) against an estimate of DKr100,000-125,000.
Exchange Rate: £1 = DKr11.4
Java princes of Denmark
A highly unusual set of five life-size canvases of Javanese princes and courtiers, attracted a deluge of international trade enquiries when they came up for sale at the Copenhagen rooms of Museumsbygningen (25% buyer’s premium) on March 1.
