A pair of engravings after Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-69) sold for more than six-times estimate at auction in Essex.

Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | Gabriel Berner

Consigned locally, the 8½ x 11in (22 x 28cm) pendant prints of The Fat Kitchen and The Thin Kitchen – scenes condemning the selfishness of gluttony and excess over abstinence and piety – were undated but described by Sworders (23% buyer’s premium) as having “age”.

The pair sold for £7400 to an international buyer.

The Fat Kitchen and The Thin Kitchen are based on the monogrammed prints of Pieter van der Heyden (c.1530-72) who was one of the primary engravers of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s work. Heyden’s Kitchen prints were made in three states and rarely appear on today’s market. A first-state impression sold for £40,000 (with fees) in London at Christie’s in 2015.