Leading the Fine Art Auction at $42,000 was Minnie Evans’ (North Carolina, 1892-1987) Untitled (Face and Foliage), oil crayon and graphite on paper, 22 by 18 inches framed, signed lower right.

Review by Kiersten Busch

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — Leland Little began June with art of all kinds, including its June 11 Fine Art Auction and June 13 Decorative Art Auction. The sales were small, but this did not hinder bidders from taking home almost every item in both sales; the Fine Art Auction saw a 98 percent sell-through rate, while the Decorative Art Auction was a white glove sale. “Both auctions did very well overall,” said vice president and content director Robyn Czar.

Czar also shared her thoughts on the bidding pool during both sales: “While we had bidders from all over the world bidding on our Fine Art Auction, interest was particularly strong from bidders in the US and Canada. The majority of bidders waited to bid live on our website on auction day.” Of the Decorative Art Auction, she added, “Interest was particularly strong from bidders in the US, especially those regionally nearby due to the interest in the Southern antiques being offered. As with the Fine Art auction, the majority of bidders waited to bid live.”

Fine Art Auction

The 104-lot Fine Art Auction realized $539,930. It was led at $42,000 by an untitled (Face and Foliage) oil crayon and graphite on paper work by self-taught African American artist Minnie Evans. According to catalog notes, Evans was “renowned for her vivid, visionary drawings that seamlessly blend religious symbolism, natural motifs and dreamlike imagery.” This example was signed lower right and was consigned from a private collection in Wilmington, N.C., and it will stay in North Carolina with its new owner.

“Oaks – Fall” by Maud Gatewood (North Carolina, 1934-2004), 1977, acrylic on canvas, 53 by 59 inches framed, signed with artist’s monogram and dated lower right, inscribed verso, grew to $39,600.

Evans’ work was one of 49 by American artists in the sale, the highest total number from any one country. The remaining 48 paintings ranged in price from $420 for “Virgin” by Peter Paone (b 1936), to $39,600 for “Oaks – Fall” by Maud Gatewood. Gatewood, the daughter of a Caswell County, N.C., sheriff, was the founding head of the art department at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. “Oaks – Fall,” an acrylic on canvas completed in 1977, was signed with Gatewood’s monogram and inscribed verso.

Traveling from North Carolina to South Carolina, African American artist Johnathan Green was represented by a singular work, “Smalls Paradise,” which depicted a scene at “one of Harlem’s most iconic nightclubs during the Harlem Renaissance and beyond,” according to catalog notes. The 1995 oil on canvas was signed and dated to the lower left and jived to $16,200. Green, who was born in Gardens Corner, S.C., was, according to the auction catalog, “raised in the Gullah community, a group of African Americans known for preserving their West African heritage through language, crafts and tradition.”

Additional notable works by American artists included “Winter in Hancock, New Hampshire” by Lilla Cabot Perry ($34,800); “Talkin’ About Spring” by Lowcountry plein air landscape painter West Fraser ($20,400); and “Fangst Bat (Catcher Boat)” by Canadian-American maritime painter Jack Lorimer Gray ($15,000).
Claire Fraser, vice president of estates & consignments and the fine art director, said, “The market for Twentieth Century Southern artists is vibrant, drawing in both experienced and new collectors eager to obtain their pieces.”

French work was represented by 15 lots, led by “l’Arc et les Champs-Élysées” by Edouard Léon Cortès, one of two paintings by the artist offered in the sale. This example, created between 1955-60, was presented in a giltwood frame and was accompanied by a certificate issued by Brian Roughton, the president of the Virtual Catalogue Raisonné for Edouard Léon Cortès. The work, which strolled to $18,600, had provenance to Oden-Wagner Gallery and A.H. Wilkens Auction in Toronto, and the private collection of a lady in Pine Level, N.C. A second work by Cortès, “Boulevard des Italiens à la tombée du jour,” was bid to $15,000.

One of two works by Edouard Léon Cortès in the Fine Art Auction, “l’Arc et les Champs-Élysées,” circa 1955-60, oil on canvas, signed lower left, 17¾ by 22½ inches in a giltwood frame, was bid to $18,600.

Another French artist with more than one work in the sale was Yolande Ardissone (1927-2024), a painter known for her “colorful and energetic depictions of French landscapes, especially coastal scenes from regions like Brittany and Provence.” Both works offered, “La Trinité (Bretagne)” and “Springtime Along the Coast,” were coastal landscapes. The former realized $8,400, while the latter was bid to $3,000.

South African artists Peter Bonney (b 1953) and Gail Kathleen van Lingen (b 1946) were also represented in the sale. Bonney, who has a background in architecture and who “often [depicts] scenes that blend realism with abstraction,” had three works find new homes: “The Long Road” ($1,200), “Blue Gum Tree Farm” ($1,080) and “Rouxville Street” ($900). Lingen’s “Clifton 4th Beach, Cape Town” went out at $600. 

Decorative Art Auction

“Our Decorative Art Auction was a strong auction with highly engaged bidding during the live sale. This auction offered bidders highly vetted lots of Southern antiques including utilitarian stoneware and pewter, as well as antique American and Continental furniture, Arts & Crafts, sculpture and other rare works,” shared the director of decorative arts, sculpture and ceramics, Brian Kuebler. The white glove sale realized $240,275.

The sale featured a sampling from the collection of Quincy and Betty Scarborough of Fayetteville, N.C., which comprised 19 lots of stoneware, pewter and furniture. A 15-gallon ovoid jar with a flared rim and four lug handles made by Daniel Seagle circa 1840 topped off at $19,200 to lead both the Scarborough collection and the auction as a whole. The jar also featured “a glossy olive-green alkaline glaze with darker glaze runs from the shoulder and handles,” according to catalog notes. Another jar by Seagle, this one six gallons, earned $1,800.

Cataloged as “monumental” due to its 15-gallon size, this circa 1840 four handle jar by Daniel Seagle (Lincoln County, N.C., 1805-1867), 19 inches tall, topped offerings from the collection of Quincy and Bett Scarborough (Fayetteville, N.C.) and the Decorative Art Auction as a whole at $19,200.

Four lots of North Carolina Chippendale-style furniture from the Scarborough collection were led by a walnut corner cupboard that closed its doors for $8,400. Made in the Piedmont region in the late Eighteenth Century, the cupboard was attributed to the peaked apron group due to its distinctive peaked apron and shaped bracket foot. Noted by the auction catalog, this example was similar in design to one documented by the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Winston-Salem, N.C., as being attributed to the Jacob Sanders school. A walnut desk and bookcase ($4,320), walnut tall chest of drawers ($3,240) and walnut blanket chest ($600) will now also furnish new homes.

Outside of the Scarborough collection, a Queen Anne North Carolina walnut pegged top writing table earned the second highest price of the sale at $15,600. Made circa 1780-90, it was attributed to Salem, N.C., and the shop of Johannes Krause; a copy of a 1975 letter from Frank L. Horton of MESDA affirming the attribution was included with the lot. Two additional Queen Anne furniture lots crossed the block: a circa 1760 Pennsylvania walnut trifid-foot chest-on-stand possible from the Delaware Valley region stood tall at $1,020, while a circa 1760 New England maple highboy with a two-part form, attributed to Connecticut, realized $780.

Turning away from furniture and towards decorative arts, eight lots of porcelain by the Hungarian Herend Porcelain Manufactory and consigned from the private collection of a lady from Pine Level, N.C., found new homes. The group was led at $1,320 by a 36-piece dinnerware set in the Fruits Composition pattern. The auction catalog described the plates as “each centering a richly colored garden and forest fruits motif, surrounded by floral and vegetal sprays, finely rendered within an elegant turquoise fish-scale border and 24K gilt rim.”

This Tiffany Studios picture frame in the Cornflower pattern with bronze bead trim housed a picture of a lady in period dress; a similar example of the frame was previously sold at Macklowe Gallery, New York; this example sold for $4,320.

An eclectic spread of four Tiffany lots attracted bidders, with a Tiffany Studios picture frame in the Cornflower pattern capturing a $4,320 finish to lead the small group. Featuring a rich green-brown patina, the circa 1910 frame retained a surprise: a period photo of a lady, as well as interior cards for a New York physician. An example of this frame model was illustrated in Tiffany Lamps and Metalware: An illustrated reference to over 2000 models by Alastair Duncan (Suffolk, UK: Acc Publishing Group Ltd., 2007). The additional Tiffany lots, a Tiffany & Company Neoclassical bronze doré portico clock with a pair of four-light figural candelabra ($2,160), a Tiffany Studios 14-piece Zodiac desk set ($2,040) and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Favrile glass footed cabinet vase ($1,320) also found new homes.

Leland Little’s next Fine Art Auction will take place on September 10, and its next Decorative Art Auction will be held on September 12. Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 919-644-1243 or www.lelandlittle.com.