Saleroom: Cats deign to put in a late appearance

It's raining cats and dogs at the Auckland City Art Gallery, suggesting a feline (if frivolous) theme for this end-of-year column.

Ambrose Bierce, that acerbic American who created The Devil's Dictionary, defined "cat" as "a soft, indestructible automaton provided by nature to be kicked when things go wrong in the domestic circle".

Others dote on the furry free-thinkers, and the esteemed Metropolitan Museum in New York even produced its own book of metropolitan cats, from Chinese scrolls to Goya and Toulouse-Lautrec.

The Auckland gallery has unearthed almost as fine a selection - a jolly display for the holiday season.

And while cats didn't overly dominate the last sales of the year, they certainly figured.

Dunbar Sloane in Auckland had Early Morning, an Eileen Mayo print of a toe-chewing tortoiseshell which went for $1450.

At Webb's, a similar Mayo cat print (this time white) was sold "subject" at $800. A Napier street view by Christopher Perkins, with a white cat lounging on a pillar, fetched $6000; a charming Lois White watercolour of a sleeping tabby went to $7000 (subject); and an early Peter Siddell of a Freeman's Bay cottage, with two elegant dark-brown Burmese on the front steps, reached $14,000.

Enough of cats. Sloane's sale, which saw a great clearing of stocks, was topped by two paintings going for $19,000 - a Charles Barraud watercolour of the Wakatipu valley and Shane Cotton's Hopa 1:7. With Sloane's now applying a 12.5 per cent buyer's premium, and GST, that totals $21,671.

Close behind was a Lois White watercolour of Adam and Eve in paradise, at $18,000.

An exceptional price of $8200 was realised for a Gordon Walters Arahura print (edition of 125).

Webb's also saw a record price for a complete set of the Barry Lett Gallery multiples. The 12 went for $16,500, with individual prints going for $3100 (Walters and McCahon), $2200 (Binney) and $1500 (Hotere).

Good prints by well-regarded artists are now regularly fetching $2000 and up. Ralph Hotere's lithographs of the past decade or so can do even better - Easter Window exceeded the top estimate in selling for $15,500.

Top price for the night went for a very dark Hotere from his Port Chalmers series. It sold for $160,000 (with 10 per cent premium and GST $178,000).

An Evelyn Page of a female figure in shade went for $85,000; a tiny Hammond bird painting sold for $78,000; a powerful Clairmont, Rachel Seated, went to $54,000; and an iconic watercolour by Robin White, Harbour Cone, reached $49,000.

The sale was a typical end-of-year mixture. Of just under 150 lots, about 15 per cent sold above the higher estimate. But around 40 per cent were sold subject to vendor's approval, failing to reach the reserve on the night. As usual, many were sold subsequently.

For instance, a work by Colin McCahon reached $70,000 on the night, against an estimate of $85,000 to $125,000. It sold later for $80,000.

Another big year is promised by the auction houses, with Dunbar Sloane planning a bumper New Zealand offering in March. Based on two big local collections, it will include Maori, folk and native art and ceramics, as well as fine art. Among the jewellery and furniture will be some of the earliest pieces made in New Zealand.