This portrait of an elderly gentleman tickled the taste buds of bidders when it was offered at Heliers Auction (18% buyer’s premium) in Lancashire.
The 18 x 15in (46 x 38cm) watercolour depicts the centenarian Patrick Gibson, a purser in the Royal Navy who claimed to have been 111 years old when he died in 1831. An inscription to the frame reads Mr Patrick Gibson Died at the Age 111 Years by A R Burt RA 1830.