Not always predicted but overwhelming when it comes, big-money Russian interest sent a bronze equine group soaring at Dawson’s (23% buyer’s premium) in Maidenhead.

Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | Terence Ryle

Depicting a mare and foal, the 10¼in (26cm) long group was signed in the bronze by the St Petersburg animalier Evegny Alexandrovich Lancere (1848-86) known as Eugene Lanceray.

It was cast by the St Petersburg foundry Nikolai F Shtange which obtained copyrights for more than a dozen of Lanceray’s models in 1893 and was generally held to be among the best of the factories competing for licences to produce Lanceray’s popular works. Among them was the bronze mounted warrior, Sokolinaya Ohota, which made $18,000 (then £14,640) in October 2016 at Freeman’s of Philadelphia.

The Dawson’s example offered on July 27 had some rubbing to the large horse but was in generally good condition and, against a £500-800 estimate, sold to a Russian collector at £17,000.