Attributed to the Duncan Phyfe Workshop, this New York Classical card table in original surface, 29 by 35¾ by 18 inches closed, was played to the sale-high price of $19,200, far exceeding its $1/2,000 estimate.
Review by Carly Timpson
FREEHOLD, N.Y. — Presenting 360 lots and Two Great Estates At Auction, Carlsen Gallery’s June 22 auction closed with a 99 percent sell-through rate, realizing approximately $400,000. Abby Carlsen, the firm’s vice president, reported: “Not including the number for registered bidders from Invaluable, there were approximately 1,288 bidders with 271 successful bidders.”
The auction comprised of items from two collections: early primitive furniture and accessories from the personal 70-year collection of Mr & Mrs Heisler, Sr, Chenango County, N.Y., and federal furniture and accessories from the Deveikis-Barkentin collection from Central Massachusetts. Carlsen Gallery noted that items from the Deveikis-Barkentin collection had been featured in Robert D. Mussey and Clark Pearce’s Rather Elegant Than Showy: The Classical Furniture of Isaac Vose (Godine, 2018).
Carlsen continued, “Throughout the sale we enjoyed very competitive bidding with a few disappointments but many happy surprises. There appeared to be fierce competition for better items in all categories including fine furniture, country accessories, art, painted furniture and silver. There was a very active in-house crowd, and the phones remained active throughout the day. We continue to be bullish on both country and traditional period furniture and the sales results prove it. We are pleased with the results of the auction and our customer response has been very positive.”
This early Nineteenth Century marble statue of “Diana of Versailles or Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt,” after the original in the Louvre, measured 60 inches high on a 35-inch-high pedestal; it was shot down for $16,800 ($10/30,000).
The sale was led by a New York Classical card table. The octagonal table, which measured 29 by 35¾ by 18 inches closed, was attributed to the Duncan Phyfe Workshop and retained its original surface. A dealer bought it for $19,200, far exceeding its $1/2,000 estimate. Another Classically-carved card table, this one with four rounded corners and stencil decoration, sold to a private collector for $6,000. Likely made in New York City around 1825 by Deming and Bulkley or Michael Allison, the table’s drawers were decorated with floral and lace illustrations in addition to the Classical stencil details.
A mahogany dropleaf work table by Isaac Vose, with its original embroidered bag, soared past its $1,000 estimate, selling to a private collector for $5,100. This table, which was on wheels, had a shallow top drawer and the bottom drawer retained its original bag embroidered with a seated dog on the front and floral arrangements on the sides.
Other furniture pieces included a mahogany console table attributed to Joseph B. Barry, a cabinetmaker in Philadelphia, and a Federal window seat frame, nearly identical to an example in the collection of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston. Though the window seat sold in this auction was lacking its cushions and could not be definitively identified, the similar example was made in either New York or Philadelphia circa 1830-60. The one in this sale achieved $7,800, besting its $2,000 high estimate and going to a private buyer. The console table had fully carved figural front supports, a mirrored backplate and its top measured 58 inches long wide by 27⅝ inches deep; a dealer claimed the piece for $5,700, an improvement upon its $1,200 high estimate.
Signed “C. Lapini, Firenze, 1888,” this 33½-inch-tall marble “Gli Adirati” statue by Cesare Lapini (Italian, 1848-1910) earned $8,400 from a private collector ($3/5,000).
A marble statue of “Diana of Versailles or Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt,” after the original in the Louvre, showed the huntress posed with a deer and reaching back over her shoulder to draw an arrow from her quiver. This early Nineteenth Century marble sculpture, 6 inches high, was positioned on a 35-inch-high pedestal and was sold in two pieces. With nearly 60 bidders watching the statue on LiveAuctioneers, she ultimately sold to a private buyer for the sale’s second-highest price of $16,800.
Italian sculptor Cesare Lapini’s figural group “Gli Adirati (The Enraged)” also sold to a private buyer, achieving $8,400. Carved in white marble, the sculpture was titled at its base and signed “C. Lapini, Firenze, 1888.” Depicting a young boy and girl resting against a stack of bricks, the figures stood 33½ inches high by 15 inches wide.
While not figural, another marble piece found a new home with a private collector for $4,200. This example was a Grand Tour model of the “Temple of Vespasian,” a building within the Roman Forum, begun by Titus after the death of his father, Vespasian, and ultimately completed by Titus’ brother, Domitian. The marble model measured 16 inches high. Another early Nineteenth Century souvenir model of this site was carved of stone, measured 14¼ inches high and sold for $3,300.
Cataloged as “magnificent” and of a “grand size,” this Federal looking glass, which had a shelf, measured 75½ by 40¾ inches and sold to a dealer for $8,400 ($1/3,000).
There were also several mirrors on offer, with a handful achieving above-estimate prices. Leading the selection was a Federal looking glass with a shelf that Carlsen Gallery cataloged as “magnificent” and of a “grand size.” This mirror, which had a high estimate of $3,000, rose to $8,400, selling to a dealer.
A 99-inch-high Louis XVI pier mirror with elaborate scrolling acanthus leaves, flowers, instruments, cherubs, urns, felines and other decorative motifs more than doubled its high estimate to sell to a private collector for $4,800. The mirror was sold with a typewritten letter from the consignor that noted, “A Louis XVI mirror has been given to the church by the Aspinwall family, the original owners of the Union Church building. The mirror was purchased in the latter 1800s in Paris at an auction held for many of the contents of the Tuillerein when it was one of the King’s residences. The mirror was purchased by Mr John Aspinwall’s father, John Lloyd Aspinwall, somewhere around 1858.” According to the website American Aristocracy, the Aspinwall family owned a New York City-based merchant trade company, Howland & Aspinwall, which generated “huge profits in the Chinese Opium trade and dominating the trade across the Pacific Ocean.”
A large, untouched two-panel Federal mirror with columns as well as lily and acorn motifs bested its $1/2,000 estimate to achieve $3,000 and a New York Federal looking glass with eglomise panels of swans and floral arrangements exceeded its $500-$1,000 estimate to bring $1,800.
Addressed “To The Society of Goffers at Blackheath,” this Eighteenth Century mezzotint engraving by V. Green after the work by English painter Lemuel Francis Abbott (1760-1802), published 1790, 28½ by 20½ inches, was driven home for $9,000 ($500-$1,500).
The leading framed artwork in the sale was a mezzotint engraving captioned “To The Society of Goffers at Blackheath.” Done in the Eighteenth Century, the inscription on this engraving identified it as “Engraved by V. Green, Mezzotinto Engraver to his Majesty & the Elector Palatine” after the original “Painted by L. F. Abbott, 1790.” The image depicted two men, one a golfer in proper dress wearing a round hat and carrying a club, the other, presumably a caddy, with a tricorn hat and carrying many additional clubs. A dealer took the winning swing, driving the framed print home for $9,000 — well beyond its $1,500 high estimate.
From a similar time period came a US surcharged musket, which was shot down by a private buyer for $9,000. This Revolutionary War-era weapon was made by Thomas Earle, the personal gunsmith of George Washington.
Individuals who liked country or primitive furniture helped drive the price of an L-shaped step-back corner cupboard. The large unit, which measured 74 inches high by 61¼ inches long by 37 inches deep, retained old gray paint with signs of age. There were two doors on the bottom and one side of the top had shelves while the other had another door; it bested its $1,000 estimate to head home with a private client for $5,100.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.carlsengallery.com or 518-634-2466.
