The work had been excluded from the sale of the Bill and Johneen Tilley collection from which it belonged, and which was held by Mossgreen some weeks ago.
It went to a predictable buyer, Mr. Denis Savill, who has been on the hunt for works for his own superannuation fund/ private collection for some time, while also beginning a modest program of donations to public, mostly regional collections.
But there was strong underbidding for the Streeton from people in the room and on the telephone.
Placed adventurously (and apparently arousing some controversy within the auction house) at lot 1 in the sale, it was offered there on the traditional premise that a gem will always draw buyers in and set off a sale on a strong note.
This was a dangerous ploy with something very valuable, but auctioneer and Mossgreen MD Mr. Paul Sumner recognised he had a very special work on his hands. Ariadne was a virgin picture in terms of sales, never having come onto the open market since it was painted – and a gem. It is from a period whose gems have gone mainly into public collections.
An exhibition devoted to symbolism had circulated in Australia and the work, unlike many of this school was neither a monster in size or conception..
It may have been so special in fact that it made the turkeys in the sale look even more lame than usual, even although many of these were new and not too awful in terms of what has been coming onto the market elsewhere in recent times.
Size was also a sales deterrent for many lots especially in the contemporaries.
The lift that Ariadne gave to the sale did not last long and the link with other prices in the sale was lost, as can happen when a Greek goddess is followed into a labyrinth.
Measuring only 12.7 cm by 35.4 cm the oil on wood panel stood head and shoulders above anything else in the sale and many buyers must have decided that if they could not afford the best they would rather go without.
This may have been behind a smaller than might have been expected turnout – not that turnouts are anything as large as they used to be because of the Internet and phone bidding, and it was a cold night.
A crowd might have been expected in view of the sale being the first to be held under the direction of Mossgreen's new art specialist, Mr. John Dwyer. Buyers of the old school might have wondered how he was going to go.
Some of the old troopers of the industry turned up to give it a more weighted trade presence than has been usual at recent sales..
The superbly presented catalogue, if short on the words that make Sotheby's equivalents so poetic, made the offering look better than its contents did, especially on reflection.
Mr. Dwyer had not pulled any impressive bunnies out of the hat, but quite a few turkeys including a Hans Heysen literally of turkeys and a Bunny Au Balcon 1910 (Lot 77 ) that clearly was not a turkey but at the same time did not run up to you and say “please take me home.”
Mr. Dwyer, took the second half of the sale, and had a hard row to hoe.
About 70 of the 166 works appear to have gone unsold.
Mr. Dwyer had clearly not been able to give the sale the homogeneity some had expected from his days at Joel's, despite a good small offering of pictures from an old client of Dr Joseph Brown.
Nor does the luxury of curating sales come into play, especially with an auction house casting its net widely.
Flourishing in the 1970s, Brown had his own share of turkeys too, and buyers pluck out the premium lots even in this section, leaving the stragglers to perish.
John Peter Russell's long reign as the Lost Impressionist who was a minor Monet may be flagging as the response to Entrance to a Fjord, Belle-Île, (Lot 48 ) all slag cliffs and little blue sky or ocean, showed when it was passed in at $200,000 which was $50,000 below the lower estimate.
The results thereafter were mainly sales at below estimate of $145,500 paid for it at Sotheby's in 1998.
Some of the swag of endearing lower priced paintings which were abundant at the town hall sales, found ready buyers and exceeded estimates. These were lower four figure works by the likes of Clarice Beckett, Arnold Shore, Vida Lahey, Ambrose Patterson, Hayward Veal and Fred Leist.
The Arthur Boyds' from the estate of Yvonne Boyd aroused modest excitement although these too appeared to lack some of the resolution or completion that is common to much of what vendors are now seeking to let go of.
They still made an important contribution to the total with the five large oil paintings from the estate selling for a combined total of $314,760 IBP.
Mr. Savill picked off a few lots to make his evening fully worthwhile making it clear that a serious falling out with Mr. Dwyer of some years back is no inhibitor to new business.
The gay market looked a little glum with interesting early works by Donald Friend and Jeffrey Smart going unsold.
Friend's The Apotheosis of Richard Keep 1963 (Lot 9 ) went unsold at $34,000 against a lower estimate of $40,000. Richard Keep was a member of the inner circle of the decorator, the late Leslie Walford.
Nolan's Woman in a Floral Hat (Lot 27 ) which bought to mind the incredible Miss New Zealand of Mardi Gras fame blossomed at $52,000 hammer, $2000 above the higher estimate, and cost the buyer all up $63,400.
Cressida Campbell did well, the latter's Cactii, Botanic Gardens Adelaide (Lot 15 ) of 1987 an early and unusual but striking work going to Sydney dealer Andrew Crawford, an avowed buyer of such works.
Amusingly, a fake fur and silicone construction Blue Ocelot in Peacock Cabinet (Lot 89 ) by Kate Rohde bucked the strengthening trend favouring women artists. It failed at a best bid of $9000 which was $10,000 short of the lower estimate.
Mr. Dwyer announced before beginning to auction it, that the object had been much admired.
What do you do with it? Admiration can only go so far.
If master-works begin to dribble into Mossgreen's direction it may be due to a black blob and one assured brush stroke of more than a century ago which completed the sale's' chef d'oeuvre.
The detail of Ariadne illustrated on the catalogue cover made that alone worth framing.
The sales result of $2.11 million IBP compared with a budgeted $1.6 million and lower estimate of $2 million.
Mossgreen now claims to be the largest antiques and fine art auction house in Australia, with its 2014 half yearly sales totalling around $18 million.
