Irma Stern painting fetches R320k

Pretoria - A watercolour painting by artist Irma Stern was sold for R320 000 in Pretoria on Sunday.

The 1939 painting - which measures 25 cm by 25 cm - is titled Congo woman sitting under a tree. The piece one of 126 artworks that were snapped up by more than 35 local art lovers on Sunday.

Paintings by Pierneef, French Oerder and Gerard Sekoto were respectively sold for R186 000, R220 000 and R166 000.

A Fynsy-Qum Persian carpet from Iran was auctioned for R105 000.

Adnan Lodhi, auctioneer of Status Auctioneers, said it was very good prices for the artworks and the Persian rug was a highlight of the auction.

Works of WH Coetser, Marie Vermeulen-Breedt, Maggie Laubser, Errol Boyley and Otto Klar also sold at reasonable prices.

The painting titled Two Arabs also by Irma Stern broke all existing South African record prices in September at an auction in Cape Town when it sold for R21.16m. It improved Stern's South African record with about R9m.

At the same auction Karoo, a Pierneef painting, stunned people when it sold for R1.22m – almost double the estimated value.