Sotheby’s Made In Britain Results

This week saw the annual Made in Britain auction take place – Sotheby’s fourth auction of the year to feature photographic prints. The mixed-media selection brought together paintings, photography, design and sculpture with estimates ranging from as little as £300 to £120,000. 

The auction brought in a combined sales total of £2,481,753 with a photographic print as the second most expensive lot. Mike Figgis’ Kate Moss Descending was estimated to sell for £40,000-£60,000 and saw a hammer price of £68,750. Though this print has an edition of 10 prints this was the second Artist Proof making it that much more expensive. 

The top three most expensive photographs to sell in this auction were celebrity portraits. The second most expensive photograph was a portrait of The Queen by Chris Levine (Lightness of Being) [click] which was estimated to sell for £12,000-£18,000 and sold for £25,000. Unlike Figgis’ work, this photograph came from an edition of 200. Coming third was a portrait of David Bowie by Duffy (Aladdin Sane (Eyes Open and Eyes Closed)) [click] estimated to sell for £10,000-£15,000 and realising a sales price of £18,750.

The cheapest photograph to sell at the auction was a print by Shelia Rock titled Intensity, 2005 which was estimated to sell for £800 to £1,200 but actually sold for just £750. 

View all the results from this auction here.