Christies of King Street, London, hold their annual sale of Sporting Art on Wednesday 27th November and whilst this selection of just 70 lots may be short on quantity, it is certainly rich in quality. Naturally, as with any combined "Sporting Art" sale there are a number of equestrian and game bird paintings and this year these include a mouth watering selection of 11 paintings by probably the greatest 20th century Horse painter, Sir Alfred J Munnings (1878-1959), with estimates up to a staggering £800,000.

The handful of breed paintings, naturally include many Gundog studies all at the top end of the Dog in Art quality list. These include (Lot 4) a very typical group of a Gordon and English Setter with a Pointer at rest with game, by James Hardy Jnr. (1832-1889) estimated at £15,000-20,000, an unusual scene by Alfred Duke (active 1890-1914) of a Pointer and an English Setter working in heathered landscape (Lot 21) expected to fetch £8,000-12,000 and a stunning study of a Gordon Setter (Lot 40) by the much neglected John Sargent Noble (1848-1896) expected to fetch between £12,000-18,000.

Also tucked away in this sale is an old friend to Our Dogs readers, the wonderful study of 5 Clumber Spaniels (Lot 10) in watercolour by John Emms (1843-1912) as featured on the front page of the 5th July issue. This painting originally came up for auction at the end on June at a provincial; auction house in Taunton and sold for over 10 times it's original estimate at £22,500. It now appears to look a little fresher and brighter, probably having been cleaned and this time is estimated at £25,000-35,000. Christie's have incorrectly captioned this picture as "5 English Setters".

The one and only Terrier painting is a fine study of a Hunt Terrier bitch and her 2 puppies (Lot 38) by Edwin Douglas, dated (18)'89, with a quoted provenance of being purchased by the Sydney Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1892 and exhibited at the Melbourne Royal Anglo-Australian Society of Artists the same year. It carries an auctioneer's estimate of £5,000-7,000.

There are two fine Foxhound studies, such as Lot 5, the Beaufort Hounds by John Arnold Wheeler (1821-1887) est. £15,000-25,000 and Lot 20 a standing Foxhound Bitch and her litter in an interior by Edwin Cooper (1785-1883) at £10,000-15,000

This sale is on view, from Friday 22nd November till Tuesday 26th November, with late night 8pm viewing on the final day till 8:30pm. The extensively illustrated catalogue may be obtained direct from Christies at 8, King Street, St. James, London SW1 6QT or by telephone on 020 7389 2828.

This catalogue may also be viewed on the internet at the following location: http://www.christies.com