Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), “Old Faithful, Yellowstone,” oil on paper mounted to Masonite, 19¼ by 14 inches, soared to $191,000 and the auction’s highest price ($80/120,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring
NEW YORK CITY — Approximately 400 lots of American fine art, furniture and decorative art were in focus in Doyle’s April 16 American Painting, Furniture, Silver & Decorative Arts auction. Included in the sale were four Chinese export lots (one painting, three porcelain lots) and one map: a detailed, large-scale map of Long Island. Anchoring the sale was about 125 pieces of American furniture and decorative arts from a selection — grouped under the title, “The Chairman’s Collection” — that celebrated vernacular forms, patinated surfaces and regional craftsmanship. The sale totaled $1.6 million, with 89 percent of lots gaveling down successfully.
Fine Art
The auction started with the fine art category, which — in terms of price points — dominated the sale. Leading the 134-lot selection was Albert Bierstadt’s 1881 striking painting, “Old Faithful, Yellowstone.” Previously handled by New York City’s Kennedy Galleries, the painting had been included in the Smithsonian Institution’s “American Landscape: A Changing Frontier” (April 28-June 19, 1966) exhibition and catalog and is also included in the Albert Bierstadt Catalogue Raisonné Project’s database. It erupted to $191,000, well ahead of expectations. Bill Fiddler, director of American art, said it saw competition from private collectors and trade bidders alike, finally selling to an art advisor bidding on behalf of a client.
The exhibition, publication and ownership history were well documented for Jasper Francis Cropsey’s “Autumn Scenery,” an 1882 oil on canvas that brought $89,400. The painting had featured in two exhibitions — in 1882 and 1884 — and three newspaper articles as well as volume II of Anthony M. Speiser’s, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Catalogue Raisonné (Newington-Cropsey Foundation, 2013).
Jasper F. Cropsey (1823-1900), “Autumn Scenery,” 1882, oil on canvas, 20 by 30 inches, found a new home for $89,400 ($70/100,000).
Bidders were eager participants from the start of the auction, noted in the strong result for the sale’s first lot — “Romantic Landscape” that was attributed to Joshua Shaw. Estimated at just $1/2,000 and presented with a provenance to Questroyal Fine Art of New York City, it achieved $28,800. More landscapes found favor with buyers. Achieving $35,220 was “Deer by a Mountain Stream” by Hermann Ottomar Herzog, presented without provenance, publication or exhibition history.
Portraits and bronzes were also in the auction. Jumping a $40/60,000 estimate, Frederic Sackrider Remington’s “Bronco Buster,” landed at $64,000. Cast at the Roman Bronze Works and numbered “238,” the piece came from the estate collection of an artist on Central Park South. In the portrait category, Karl Albert Buehr’s “Daydreams” depicted a woman seated on the bank of a river or stream; bidders took it to $28,800.
“We were very happy with the results,” Fiddler told Antiques and The Arts Weekly. “Interest in — and prices for — Nineteenth Century and Hudson River School paintings were stronger than they have been recently.”
Silver
Nearly 75 silver lots followed fine art ones across the block, led by a 201-piece sterling silver flatware service, in the Mythologique pattern by Gorham, that came to auction from the estate collection of Adelaide P. Grey of West Palm Beach, Fla. Estimated at $4/6,000, it came with an oak canteen and realized $14,080. A slightly smaller flatware set — 172 pieces — by Tiffany & Company in the English King pattern, realized $9,600, within estimate.
The West Palm Beach, Fla., estate of Adelaide P. Grey consigned to sale this 201-piece Gorham sterling silver flatware set in the Mythologique pattern; it closed at $14,080 ($4/6,000
There was more to the silver section than flatware. From Tiffany, a sterling silver two-handled cup previously exhibited at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago that topped off above estimates, at $8,960. A water pitcher by S. Kirk & Son had characteristic foliate repoussé decoration and overflowed its $1,5/2,500 with a $3,840 result, the same price achieved for another Kirk & Son pitcher that had an inverted pear form and cornucopia-form handle.
Silver specialist Todd Sell noted, “Big names — Tiffany, Gorham, Kirk, Reed & Barton — that people recognize still sell well. We had a lot of new bidders, particularly coming in online.”
Furniture, Decorative Arts & Folk Art
Formal furniture vied with more primitive examples, with a red-painted tall case clock attributed to Nathaniel Dominy IV, from The Chairman’s Collection, being one of the first highlights. Though it had a white-painted wooden dial, it related closely to a clock with an engraved pewter face that furniture scholar Charles F. Hummel published in his 1968 book, With Hammer in Hand: The Dominy Craftsmen of East Hampton, N.Y., and praised for its simplicity of design and mechanism. The clock in Doyle’s sale realized $25,600.
One of the furniture highlights of The Chairman’s Collection was this circa 1790 red-painted tall case clock, attributed to Nathaniel Dominy IV, that may have had provenance in the Pratt family of Sag Harbor, N.Y. Standing nearly 7 feet tall, it earned $25,600 ($30/50,000).
Towards the end of the sale, the highest price paid for furniture — $41,600 — was achieved, by a Chippendale mahogany bonnet-top block-front chest on chest from Boston or Charlestown, Mass., circa 1770. The catalog note for the piece suggested a possible attribution to cabinetmaker, Benjamin Frothingham, Jr, based on several features, namely its close similarities to a similar chest on chest with Frothingham’s label pictured in Boston Furniture of the Eighteenth Century (Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1974). Carving similar to those done by Frothingham collaborator, John Welch, was another reason for the attribution, as was identical pilasters with pulvinated plinths, the overall drawer arrangement and the manner in which the blocking was executed.
Decorative objects, particularly those from The Chairman’s Collection, were popular. Painted pieces were featured, including a green-painted pine wall box ($1,664), a painted pipe box ($1,920), a group of six painted pantry boxes ($1,536), two double-sided blown molded Liberty eagle glass flasks ($1,408), a slip-decorated redware loaf pan ($1,024) and a near pair of mirrored tin sconces ($1,024).
For folk art, Doyle bidders had many options, with highlights from The Chairman’s Collection including a carved and white-painted pine eagle wall plaque attributed to John Haley Bellamy ($3,840), a carved and painted wood and sheet iron Lady Liberty figure ($2,560), a molded copper Black Hawk weathervane ($4,160) and a set of six painted splint baskets ($960).
This 28-inch-long molded copper Black Hawk weathervane ran to the top of a small field of weathervanes, to $4,160 ($2,5/3,500).
Chris Barber, Doyle’s director of American furniture and decorative arts, said The Chairman’s Collection gave him “the opportunity to do something Doyle doesn’t always do: sell country furniture in its New York office. I had the chance to reconnect with collectors I hadn’t yet seen at Doyle, and — because of the depth of material from Long Island — I was able to get to create relationships with those collectors, too.”
Auction houses are dependent on confident buyers. When asked about the current state of a market with economic uncertainty, Barber noted he thought bidders were “selective and hesitant,” but he was very happy to have strong interest and competitive bidding on things that were rare and important.
Upcoming American furniture, fine art and decorative arts sales have not yet been announced.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 212-427-2730 or www.doyle.com.
