Some auctions are real dogs, but Ron Bourgeault put a new spin on it for his May 29 and 30 sale at Treadwell House that was replete with canine delights that pleased and teased bidders. Northeast Auctions’ two-day event delivered a far-ranging array of antiques.
A pair of Victorian silver Labrador retriever-head stirrup cups estimated at $6/12,000 galvanized seven phone bidders who drove the final price to $36,580. The soulful pups were made in London by James Barclay Hennell. A silver stirrup cup in the form of a bulldog head, also by Hennell, also stirred the phones, but went to an absentee bidder for $29,500. A Hennell silver stirrup cup in the form of an otterhound went on the phone for $19,470. Bourgeault’s observation? “Every dog has his day.”
The cups were among the some 250 objects deaccessioned by the Pebble Hill Foundation in Thomasville, Ga. The first house on the 3,000-acre plantation, Pebble Hill, was built around 1827 by Thomas Jefferson Johnson and was replaced in 1850. It was sold to industrialist Howard Melville Hanna, whose daughter, Kate Hanna Ireland Harvey, inherited it. A fire in 1934 destroyed much of the house and Harvey built a third house, now a house museum, and with her daughter gathered impressive collections of furniture, porcelain, silver and glass and art. The proceeds of the deaccessioned material will be used to fund special projects at the museum.
A 3½-inch Victorian silver plate snuffbox in the form of a recumbent hound brought energetic bidding and sold for $1,888, six times the low estimate, and an Italian gold and micromosaic brooch depicting a Cavalier King Charles spaniel sold for $3,835. An English glazed pottery stirrup cup in the form of a hound’s head was $3,450.
The sale did not go entirely to the dogs, however. A late Victorian silver creamer in the form of a cow by London smith Joseph Braham, along with a German silver pepperette in the form of a cow, spurred phone activity and sold for $3,540, six times the high estimate.
Six phones pursued an English porcelain stirrup cup in the form of a speckled trout head, inscribed “The Angler’s Delight,” that went to one of them for $4,956.
A Victorian carved and ebonized hardwood tobacco box in the form of bulldog’s head, with a silver collar by John Wilman Figg of London, realized $5,428, and a Nineteenth Century bronze group of hounds ratting by Pierre Jules Mene brought $2,360. A tin wall plaque in the form of a sweet-looking hound’s head drew seven phone bidders and sold for $3,540.
A set of 11 Doulton Burslem porcelain cabinet plates decorated and signed by J. Hancock with images of large feline creatures went for $11,505, while a set of English cut glass stemware comprising 32 champagnes, 14 white wines, 26 red wines and 16 wine rinsers was a solid $6,490.
An Eighteenth Century George III silver covered cup that was assumed to have been made by Charles Woodward of London was embellished with one vacant medallion, and another with a steeplechaser went for $13,570 to a phone bidder who purchased several other silver pieces from Pebble Hill.
One silver lot that was of interest was not part of the Pebble Hill cache. A George III silver epergne made in London by James Young was made with a central oval bowl and six pendant baskets and with piercing and scrolling. It sold for $18,800 to a Milwaukee collector who is a regular at Northeast auctions.
The collections at Pebble Hill were many and wide. A 29-inch bronze figure of a nymph holding a lily by Bessie Potter Vonnoh went on the phone for $47,200.
Paintings from Pebble Hill included the English watercolor of a horse by Lionel D.R. Edwards that was inscribed, “The ‘Tetrarch’ aged 14 Chattis Hill,” 1924. It brought $5,310. The 1854 English oil on board by James Clarke Hook, “Market Morning,” was signed and dated. It sold for $4,130.
Also from Pebble Hill were two Chinese water buffalo horn cups, one of which was decorated with prunus blossoms and branches and fetched $12,390 after a bidding competition among six phone bidders. The second example was carved as flower petals with openwork stems, blossoms and foliage and brought $35,400. Six phones pursued a Japanese carved ivory figure of a fish merchant that they pushed to $7,080.
A 14-inch figure of a standing foal by Anna V. Hyatt Huntington might have fitted nicely at Pebble Hill, but had another source. Signed and stamped “Gorham Co. Founders QRC QA8,” it brought $8,850. A pair of cast iron setters stood 24¾ inches and sold for $10,325.
The equine painting “Portrait of Well Bred and Wicked at Newmarket” by English artist Francis Sartorius I included the date, 1755, on a stone in the image and sold for $23,600. It came from the Eighteenth Century Castle Hyde in County Cork, Ireland, which was also the source of “The Banks of the River Arques, Normandy” by Norwegian artist Fritz Thaulow that sold for $12,960. A George III-style giltwood mirror carved in the Chinese Chippendale style, with pavilions and phoenix, brought $2,950.
Two charcoal drawings by Kathe Kollwitz went to the phones. The 1928 “Mother and Babies” sold for $34,220, and a woman holding a baby was $21,240. Each had been purchased in 1964, the first from collectors Henry Ernest and Gordon Fox of Montreal and the other from Kenmore Galleries in Philadelphia.
A cache of Dutch pictures inspired vigorous activity: Phone bidders jumped all over “Cottage in Springtime” by Arnold Marc Gorter and drove it to $22,420, while “Hunting Outside a Village” by Seventeenth Century artist Pieter Jansz van Asch was $8,260 on the phone.
A watercolor view, “Dutch Market Square,” by Eighteenth Century artist Jan de Beyer was identified in a cartouche as “De Markt in De Graav J. de Beyer ad viv. Delint 1773.” It brought $6,785. A watercolor view of the town hall at Doesburg, Netherlands, by de Beyer was $5,310.
In addition to the ceremonies of Memorial Day in Portsmouth, the town was filled with tourists come to view the tall ships visiting the port. Northeast’s presale publicity invited people to “bring the family to Portsmouth for this holiday weekend.” So, they did. Although the auction drew the most phone and absentee bids of any in Northeast’s history, according to Bourgeault, there was room for a few more. At one point in the auction proceedings, a walking tour en route to or from Strawbery Banke and the waterfront paraded through the tent. It elicited only one suspicious bark from one of the several dogs dozing there and bemused looks on the part of assembled staff, dealers and collectors.
The Chinese trade was well represented in the flesh and on the phones for selections of desirable Chinese material †in addition to the water buffalo horn cups from Pebble Hill. Several lots inspired vigorous bid jumping on the part of the Chinese trade, which waited patiently in the rear of the tent until the lots came up in the 900s of the sale.
The star, the highlight, of the auction was the 57/8-inch Chinese porcelain famille rose bowl with an interior underglaze blue decorated with rocks, waves and ribbons and exterior decoration of medallions of floral sprays on a yellow ground. Bearing the Daoguang seal mark in underglaze-blue, the bowl opened at $500 and was jumped hastily to $73,160. Auctioneer Ron Bourgeault said that a military officer had found it in the South.
One dealer won a pair of carved hardwood altar tables with inset panels of hardstone and cloisonné for $47,200. She also paid $8,260 for a pair of wall plaques, 54 by 25 inches each, with carved jade, ivory, coral and cinnabar inlay in the form of decorative household accessories. A set of four Chinese panels in black lacquer measured 28 by 91/8 inches each and each was mounted with carved hardstone, ivory and hardwood vases of flower, animals and birds. They sold on the phone for $4,484.
Ten phone bidders and some of the coterie of Chinese dealers in the tent went after a 25¼-inch Chinese porcelain charger, circa 1750, with underglaze red decoration of a five-clawed dragon in pursuit of the pearl. They jumped the bids to a final price of $42,480.
A large, 35¾ inches tall, pair of blue and white hexagonal porcelain vases decorated with figures in a river and mountainous landscape elicited the same frantic bidding and also ended at $42,480.
A lot of two Kangxi blue and white porcelain ginger jars with carved and pierced covers, one decorated with scenes of scholars in a garden and the other with images mothers and children, elicited $14,160. A pair of famille rose vases with delicate floral decoration on a blue green ground and scroll and ring handles went on the phone for $12,980. They went to the same buyer who paid $4,484 for an elegant pale celadon glazed vase that was not marked.
Eleven phones pursued a pair of Chinese Export porcelain famille verte hexagonal vases mounted as lamps and decorated with panels of figures, peacocks and landscapes to $9,440.
A late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century Chinese cloisonné bowl with interior decoration of a tortoise amid carp, crab and lily fronds and exterior decoration of four dragons after the pearl, all on a turquoise ground, sold for $11,800. It, too, is headed back to China.
Of the furniture across the block, style had it all over substance. A set of eight Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany dining chairs, with two armchairs, was carved with shells and acanthus leaves and brought $5,664. A New England Chippendale figured maple secretary with two doors above a slant lid desk fetched $2,596. A Colonial Revival mahogany partners’ desk, a replica of the one used by George Washington at Federal Hall in New York, realized $5,192, and an American Hepplewhite figured mahogany sideboard was a very good buy at $2,006.
All prices reported include the 18 percent buyer’s premium. For information, www.northeastauctions.com or 603-433-8400.
