Far surpassing its $30/50,000 estimate to achieve the sale’s highest price of $187,500 was this 22K yellow gold, gem-set jade dagger or khanjar from the Indian Mughal empire. It was sold together with its embroidered green cloth-clad wood scabbard with seed pearl ornamentations.
Review by Kiersten Busch
ASTORIA, N.Y. — Auctions at Showplace rang in May with its Important Fine Art and Design Auction, kicking off on the first of the month with a 145-lot auction celebrating the biggest names in art, art glass, timepieces and designer jewelry. With only four lots passing, the sale concluded with a 97 percent sell-through rate.
“Auctions at Showplace is incredibly proud of the results of the May 1 Important Fine Art & Design Auction,” said Shawn Leventhal, director of business development. “The sale had a broad range of clientele from around the world including London, Dublin, Paris, Vienna, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Auckland, San Francisco, La Jolla, Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, New York, East Hampton and Greenwich. Buyers included collectors, interior designers and top gallerists. The sale featured robust bidding in the sale room, on the telephone, on nyshowplace.com and on the major auction bidding platforms.”
Top lot status was slashed down by a 22K yellow gold and gem-set jade dagger, also known as a khanjar, from the Indian Mughal empire. The dagger’s hilt and the tip of its cloth-clad scabbard were both made from a “pale greenish white nephrite jade” and were mounted with an “exuberant floral pattern in yellow gold inset with ruby, spinel, corundum and emerald gemstones,” according to catalog notes. The 16-inch-long weapon had an illegible maker’s mark and provenance to a Fifth Avenue estate. It sold much higher than its $30/50,000 estimate, at $187,500.
This set of eight Neolithic-style vases with industrial paint drip glaze by Ai Weiwei (Chinese, b 1957), collectively named “Colored Vases,” 2014, came with their signed certificate of authenticity and was bid to $75,000 ($60/80,000).
“Colored Vases,” a set of eight Neolithic-style vases with industrial paint drip glaze by Ai Weiwei, led a group of five lots of vases. The set, made in 2014, was acquired directly from the artist in 2015 and was sold at Christie’s, New York’s Post War-Present auction in September 2023. Consigned from an Upper East Side townhouse, the set of eight made $75,000 and will now join a “colorful west coast collection,” according to Leventhal. Three Lucie Rie bottle vases were offered separate from one another, with a black glazed stoneware example making $10,625, while its white glazed complement earned $12,500. A metallic glazed porcelain example was bid to the highest price of the three, changing hands for $20,000.
Oil paintings were well represented, with 28 lots crossing the block, ranging in price from $625 for a winter village scene attributed to Hermann Max Pechstein, to $68,750 for “Still Life, Garden Conservatory” by Ivon Hitchens. The latter, painted circa 1935, contained a Jonathan Clark Fine Art label verso, and will be headed back across the pond to England.
Additional high prices in the oil painting grouping included the $56,250 earned for “Les Jetees De Deauville-Trouville (The Deauville-Trouville Jetties)” by Raoul Dufy, which was included in Fanny Guillon-Laffeulle’s Raoul Dufy Catalogue Raisonné de l’Oeuvre Peint. The circa 1930 painting, housed in a private collection frame, had provenance to the estate of the artist, Neffe-Degandt Fine Art (London), a 2008 Sotheby’s London sale and the New York City collection from which it was consigned. Suzan Frecon’s “Red Painting Continuation” and “Paysage T.S.F.” by Jean Lucrat also made more than $20,000, securing $22,500 and $21,250 finishes respectively.
This Buccellati 18K yellow and white gold cuff bangle with emeralds and diamonds weighed 27.8 pennyweights and shone for $40,625, just surpassing its $20/40,000 estimate.
Gold pieces by Mario Buccellati led the designer jewelry category, with an 18K yellow and white gold cuff bangle with provenance to a New York City collection slipping onto its new owner’s wrist for $40,625. The bracelet featured five bezel-set, round cabochon emeralds and four bezel-set old European-cut diamonds. It was followed in price by another cuff bangle, this one 18K white gold and containing seven bezel-set round, brilliant-cut diamonds ($21,250), then an 18K yellow gold bouquet brooch set with emeralds and blue sapphires ($10,000) and, finally, a pair of 18K yellow gold triple half-hoop earrings ($3,438).
Eleven lots of bronze sculptures found new homes, with prices ranging from $1,188 for a patinated bronze sculpture of a bull by Immi Storrs, to $34,375 for Leo Lentelli’s “Faun.” The circa 1931 verdigris patinated bronze garden statue was most likely cast at the Gorham Company foundry but was unsigned. According to catalog notes, it was one of three examples cast; the other two were cast for the Boca Raton Club, Florida, and the Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina. Two additional Roman-inspired bronzes were sold, both of the goddess Diana. Alfred Boucher’s depiction shot to $25,000, while Jean-Antoine Houdon’s was bid to $23,750.
Showplace has weekly estate auctions, with upcoming sales on June 5, June 12 and June 19. Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 212-633-6063 or www.nyshowplace.com.
