Charleston, S.C., played all the leading roles at Brunk Auctions’ January 3 and 4 sale. No other locale represented in this 977-lot sale came close to the prices on paintings and furniture that originated in the historic capital of Southern antiquities.
The sale’s leading light was “Solitude or Sunset,” an 1854 Luminist painting by one of Charleston’s most celebrated Nineteenth Century artists, Louis Rémy Mignot (1831‱870). The painting with the poetic title was completed when Mignot was only 23, and it remained one of the most important paintings of his career. “Solitude or Sunset” descended in the Chazal family, French Catholic entrepreneurs originally from Santo Domingo.
There was standing room only at Brunk Auctions’ gallery when the 30-by-417/8-inch painting, in its original Barbizon gilt wood frame, opened at its $80,000 reserve. The winning bidder, an agent for a private collector, paid $299,000, setting a new record for the artist. The underbidder was one of the many institutions vying for the painting.
Co-starring with the Mignot was a 1795‱804 Charleston inlaid secretary bookcase, with butler’s panel in mahogany and white pine secondary. It descended in the McDonald and Bourne families of Georgetown, S.C. Brad Rauschenberg and John Bivens, Jr documented the secretary/bookcase in their book , The Furniture of Charleston, 1680 to 1820 . It sold for $28,750.
One of the sale’s larger collections came from the Historic Charleston Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to protecting and preserving Charleston’s buildings, landscape and artifacts. Most of the 40 lots were donated to the foundation specifically to benefit the acquisition fund, and they were very successful in that regard. A 1750‷0 mahogany Charleston Chippendale chest-on-chest with finely dovetailed graduated drawers highlighted the foundation’s consignment, and realized $46,000.
Charleston’s “Lady of the Low Country,” Alice Ravenel Huger Smith (1876‱958), was represented by three watercolors. Smith is revered for her work as a painter, printmaker, author, illustrator, historian, historic preservationist and leader of the Charleston renaissance. Her 16¾-by-213/8-inch painting of wood storks ascending from a lagoon opened at its $8,000 reserve, but quickly climbed to sell for $27,600. Her watercolor of a mountain landscape with a river brought $8,050, and a small watercolor of a Southern belle signed A.R.H.S. was $4,600.
Found in Charleston in the early 1960s was a most unusual cache of Confederate money. All were in a 100-year-old safe located in a Charleston office. The high dollar lot consisted of 100 Confederate Type 65 $100 notes dated February 17, 1864, with consecutive serial numbers and bound in their original paper wrapper. All featured the portrait of prototypical Southern belle and “Queen of the Confederacy,” Lucy Pickens. The packet sold for $9,200.
One of the sale’s most exciting moments occurred when a watercolor attributed to Thomas Moran came up for sale. Brunk went with an attribution because there was some concern about where Moran was in 1873, the date included with a signature was on the painting’s lower right. “The quality was certainly good enough to be a Moran,” said Andrew Brunk, owner. The painting, which left its conservative estimate of $500/1,000 far behind, finished at $27,600.
During the 1940s, a Charleston businessman, Adolph G. Hollings, worked in Tehran, Iran, as purchasing agent for American Orient Corporation, a carpet importer. Five carpets from his personal collection crossed the block. The highlights of the collection were two matching fine Kashan rugs, 4½ feet by 6 feet 10 inches, with elaborate central medallions. They sold separately for $5,980 and $5,290.
The sale’s jewelry collection was large and exceptional. Private estates consigned jewelry, with everything from pearls and emeralds to jade and opals. One of the highlights was a 3.7-carat unmounted round cut diamond with color I to J and clarity VS1. After opening at $16,000, the diamond sold for $21,850.
All prices given include the buyer’s premium.
Brunk Auctions is at 117 Tunnel Road. The next catalog sale is May 9 and 10. For more information, www.brunkauctions.com or 828-254-6846.
