South African art fetched record prices in London at Bonhams' sixth South African art sale, the auctioneer said on Thursday.

The auction on Wednesday brought in a total of £2.5-million or R29-million, and new world record prices were achieved for six artists.

"Works by Pierneef, Stern, Laubser and Sekoto dominated," Bonhams said in a statement.

Top lot in the sale was a glowing Irma Stern titled "Ripe Fields" — immediately identifiable as a landscape of the Boland near Caledon in the Western Cape, which fetched £252 000. Its pre-sale estimate was £150 000 to £252 000.

A second Stern, "Still life of fruit", sold for £84 000.

Its pre-sale estimate was £50 000 to £70 000.

South Africa's leading black artist

There were also two Pierneefs in the top 10, "Lowveld, Mica Eastern Transvaal", which fetched £192 000 and "Apies River, Pretoria with Meintjieskop beyond" selling for £54 000.

Maggie Laubser's "A Pondo Woman" was the third highest price in the sale at £168 000.

Gerard Sekoto, South Africa's leading black artist, had a painting in the top ten entitled "Boy with a Yellow Cap", which was sold for £102 000 against a pre-sale estimate of £30 000 to £50 000.

Bonhams said Alexis Preller works also performed well with two in the top ten: "Icarus" which sold for £66 000 and "Girl with a Flower" going for £60 000.

"The message of this sale is clear, South African art has bounced out of the recession ahead of many other sectors of the art market," said Giles Peppiatt, head of South African Art at Bonhams.

"International collectors were competing aggressively for some works."

He said the quality of the work and its dedicated supporters continued to drive interest in acquiring "the best art from this part of the world".

Another artist in the top ten was Christo Coetzee whose "Still life with fruit, a banjo and birdcage", sold for £64 800 — ten times more than the pre-sale low estimate of £6000.

A Maud Sumner work sold for £62 400.

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