The English School double portrait, c.1650, sold for a hammer price of £220,000 at Trevanion.
Believed to date from the mid-17th century, this double portrait is a fascinating painting on many accounts.
Depicting a black woman from the Cromwellian period makes it rare enough, but the fact that she appears dressed as a social equal to her counterpart makes it rarer still. The two figures, whose clothes, hair and jewellery point to the fashions of the period, are also shown wearing decorative patches to their faces – an equally voguish feature that added another layer of curiosity to the work.