Christie's auction of Modern British and Irish Art, held on July 16 in London, has been led by William Scott's Blue Still Life.

William Scott was one of the most celebrated still life artists of the 20th century

Scott (1913-1989) was a member of the Royal Academy and one of the most celebrated Ulster painters of the 20th century.

His Still Blue Life, an oil on canvas painted in 1958, sold for £74,500 ($127,619), beating its pre-sale estimate of £40,000-60,000 by 24.1%.

The second highest bids of the sale were seen by Ivon Hitchens' Sussex River, Bridge and Purple Water, which also topped its £35,000 high estimate, selling with a 71.4% increase at £60,000 ($102,585).

Hitchens moved to Sussex in the 1940s, after his house was bombed during the second world war.

He lived in a caravan in a patch of woodland and spent more than 40 years there, creating landscapes and adding to his home with makeshift buildings.

The record for Yeats' work stands at £1.2m ($2m), achieved in 1999 at Sotheby's for his The Wild Ones. Early Away is pictured here.

Jack Butler Yeats' Early Away sold within estimate at £50,000 ($86,650). Howard Pyle, author of the catalogue raisonne of Yeats' work describes the scene:

"A man in the early morning assumes a theatrical appearance as he is lit by two lights: the cold light of the dawn at his back, and a warm beam from the open kitchen door lighting his face and his side. Behind him in the yard, a small ginger cat comes down from the wall, walking delicately to meet him, its small form lit from the kitchen as well."

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