The Across The Block column in our November 26, 2021 issue spotlights mystery and fashion. “Who painted this lady?” one of our editors asked regarding a work that sold in East Coast Fine Arts’ latest sale. Mystery continues as a cloisonne dish surpasses its $200/300 estimate to land in the six figures with David Killen. Read on to get your fix of auction results.
Chinese Cloisonne Dish Yields Surprisingly Imperial Result At David Killen
NEW YORK CITY – At just 8½ inches in diameter and with an estimate of just $200/300, a Chinese Ming dynasty cloisonne dish with Jingtai marks, Imperial mark and of the period was a surprise to David Killen Gallery when it brought $216,000. The mark referenced Jingtai, who was on the throne for just eight years and while Killen said there was no way to know for sure if the marks were original or later, “the general consensus of the crowd of scholars and experts who came to look at it was that it was good.” It sold to a European buyer of Asian descent who was bidding on the phone. For information, 646-590-2788 or www.davidkillengallery.com.
NH 2nd Battalion Marked French Infantry Musket Hits $44,000 At Skinner
MARLBOROUGH, MASS. – Skinner’s historic arms and militaria auction on October 29 was met with great enthusiasm and posted strong results well exceeding presale expectations, with a final sale total of $757,784. The sale was headlined with the William Rose Colonial and Revolutionary War arms collection Part I and saw extremely active bidding in the gallery, by telephone and absentee, as well as online. The collection featured a vast selection of military arms of all types spanning the late Seventeenth Century through the American Revolution. The collection’s top lot was a New Hampshire 2nd Battalion Marked French Model 1763/66 Infantry musket. The musket is one of a group of 2,016 arms that were obtained by New Hampshire in late March 1777 and distinctively marked on the barrel indicating their ownership by the state. The muskets were used in the 1777 campaigns in northern New York and elsewhere after that. This example set a record for the highest price paid at auction for a New Hampshire Battalion marked musket at $44,063. For information, 508-970-3000 or www.skinnerinc.com.
French Chandelier Flies High At Nadeau’s
WINDSOR, CONN. – A French Empire gilt bronze chandelier having green painted metal body with gilt bronze mounts and six bronze arms realized an electrifying $4,375 in Nadeau’s Auction Gallery’s November 13 “Decorators and Designers Specialty Auction.” Estimated at $400/800, it measured 15 inches high and just 18½ inches in diameter but inspired competition around the world, finally selling to a buyer in Sweden. For more information, www.nadeausauction.com or 860-246-2444.
Fritz Scholder Indian Portrait Heads At Amero
SARASOTA, FLA. – “Indian to Right,” by American artist Fritz Scholder (1937-2005) went to the head of Amero Auctions’ November 14 “Fall Jubilee” sale when it brought $73,800 against an estimate of $8/10,000. The 20-by-16-inch oil on canvas had provenance to the Tally Richards Gallery of Contemporary Art in Taos, N.M., and had been exhibited in 1975 at the Jamison Gallery in Santa Fe, N.M. For information, 941-330-1577 or www.ameroauctions.com.
Republican Famille Rose Vase Shatters Tremont Expectations
SUDBURY, MASS. – It stood just 8 inches tall and was estimated at a mere $200/300 but a Chinese Republican period famille rose vase with Chien Lung marks and depicting a boy with a bow and yellow bird flew past presale expectations. By the time the gavel fell in Tremont Auctions’ November 14 Annual Fall Asian Fine Arts & Antiques sale, interest had pushed it to $12,300. For more information, www.tremontauctions.com or 617-795-1678.
High Fashion, High Price For Manchu Purple Ground Robe At Michaan’s
ALAMEDA, CALIF. – Michaan’s conducted an auction of historic costume and textiles on November 12, with many choice examples deaccessioned from the Monterey History and Art Association, Monterey, Calif., a non-profit that has been a guiding force in preserving Monterey’s history since the founding of the association in 1931. A Manchu Lady purple ground informal robe Qipao sold for $13,200, handily beating its $800-$1,500 estimate. Fashion in high collar, the right-side-opening robe with layered sleeves was embroidered in pink and white satin threads to depict flowering branches on a dark purple ground, the borders and sleeve bands embroidered en suite on a back satin ground. Lined with green silk, it was 56½ inches long. For information, 510-740-0220 or www.michaans.com.
Walter Schnackenberg’s Finest Art Deco Poster Vamps Poster Auction
NEW YORK CITY – One of Walter Schnackenberg’s finest creations, “Odeon Casino,” 1912, depicting a couple exuding Art Deco style and sensuality was the cover lot for Poster Auction International’s LXXXV auction on November 14 and sold for $50,400. One of Munich’s finest amusement venues, where the elegant world gathered after the theater and concert, was the Odeon Casino, for which Schnackenberg designed a series of unusual posters. His vampy type of woman with a pageboy haircut and a fashion that anticipated the 1920s was a sensation and provocation in Munich at a time when the busty, sumptuously equipped ladies of the Wilhelmine era still dominated the image of women. “This is the finest specimen we’ve ever seen!” said the auction house. For information, www.rennertsgallery.com or 212-787-4000.
Calling All Art Sleuths: Who Painted This Lady?
PORT ST LUCIE, FLA. – On November 14, East Coast Fine Arts presented an online auction of fine art and Japanese cloisonne, all offered at low opening bids and with no reserves. Topping the sale was an original Art Deco oil on canvas showing a woman reclined and reading with a night table beside her. The painting was illegibly signed at lower right along with the date 1918. Some clues on the reverse may help identify the artist. One is a partial framer’s label on reverse from the Duncan Vail Co., which was an important framery established in Los Angeles in 1869. There is also a partial address label from Pasadena, Calif. Selling for $8,125, the image in the original vintage gilt frame measured 18½ by 26½ inches. For information, www.eastcoastfinearts.com or 772-281-2409.
Harley-Davidson Bicycle Rolls Into Winners Circle
COPAKE, N.Y.- A circa 1917 Harley-Davidson pneumatic bicycle sold at Copake Auction Inc’s November 13 sale for $5,228. On a 19-inch olive green frame, the bicycle featured the “HD” sprocket and badge with a Troxel saddle. Harley-Davidson produced its bicycle between 1917 and 1922, this example representing an early and desirable version. Harley did not manufacture its own bicycle, outsourcing it to the Davis Sewing Machine Co. It was an attempt by the company to woo a younger generation of brand loyalists, but when the Davis Sewing Machine Co went out of business in 1922, Harley-Davidson ceased its interest in the bicycle industry. For information, www.copakeauction.com or 518-329-1142.
