Edinburgh

Figuring why a specific lot did unexpectedly well is part and parcel of reviewing auctions but this oil on board lunette of a pastoral idyll below is more of a challenge than most.

John Alexander (1686-1766) was the son of a doctor in Aberdeen and the great-grandson of the famous artist George Jamesone.

Enhancing a growing reputation at Edinburgh auction house Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium) for optical instruments, a recent sale included 18 lots of binoculars and the like.

Three gallery shows will focus on Scottish art of the later 20th century.

So much more successful than their 18th century forebears, today’s Jacobites go from strength to strength.

The highlight of Lyon & Turnbull’s sale of Scottish Silver & Applied Arts on August 16 was a Jacobite drinking glass with a difference.

The British Museum’s big summer exhibition on Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai is over, but more art from the Land of the Rising Sun is in the offing (also see International Events, ATG No 2305).

August is traditionally the month when most of the auction world takes a breather. But in Scotland, where well-heeled holiday-makers tread, there is no let-up.

The July 28-30 antiques and fine art fair at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh brings 35 dealers from across the UK to stand in the foyer and assembly hall of this 18th century building.

The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh’s next pair of exhibitions from July 21-August 28 features works of the birds and the boys.

Sensational results for Scottish author in Lyon & Turnbull sale recall a doomed family link...

“In the 19th century, before football came along, it was all about field sports,” says Iain Byatt-Smith of Bonhams’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) Scottish picture department.

Coming up next at The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh is the exhibition Between Tides: Scotland’s Working Culture of the Sea.

Jenny Saville’s (b.1970) contorted and grotesquely fleshy female nudes are hot property on the contemporary art market.

Symbols of good fortune and longevity in both China and Japan, cranes cast in bronze with incised decoration were simply catalogued as oriental at the April 10 sale held by Edinburgh auction house Thomson Roddick (16% buyer’s premium).