Good things came in pairs at CRN Auctions’ November 23 sale where the highlights were the fine Eighteenth Century Italian furniture that came from a Chicago collector with a very good eye. An Eighteenth Century Italian pair of serpentine commodes in walnut parquetry veneer in an overall diamond pattern with ormolu mounts sold to a Florida dealer for $28,750. An Eighteenth Century Italian rococo pair of carved and painted consoles with molded edge white marble tops with gray veining and cream painted bases and carved giltwood mounts sold for $15,540 to another Florida dealer.
A 35-inch-high pair of Eighteenth Century Italian rococo serpentine three-drawer commodini with walnut inlay fetched $9,200 from a phone buyer. They are headed back to Italy.
A pair of Eighteenth Century Italian rococo carved and polychromed columns with gilt capitals sold for $5,750, and a pair of Eighteenth Century Italian rococo pierce carved giltwood pedestals sold for $3,910. An Eighteenth Century pair of carved and gilded standing angels managed to fly to $5,463 despite missing their wings. An Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century Italian carved and polychromed kneeling angel in the Sixteenth Century style was slightly later and had removable wings. It sold for $3,335.
Auctioneer Carl R. Nordblom drew his usual full house that persisted right to the end of the sale. He observed after the sale that international bidding was slightly softer than usual, due perhaps to the strength of the US dollar. The phones, left bids and bidders in the room made for a lively sale. There is no Internet bidding at CRN sales.
An 85-inch Eighteenth Century Italian rococo mirror with etched glass and a painted and gilded frame sold for $3,450, and a mid-Nineteenth Century Venetian glass chandelier with red accents came from the Borgia collection and retained the original gas fittings. It realized $4,140. An ornate French Louis XV-style bronze six-light chandelier attracted $2,725.
A handsome set of six English George II walnut side chairs on robust pad feet and with fine needlework tapestry upholstery attracted much interest and drew $19,550 from a Michigan buyer.
A Louis XV-style parquetry and kingwood bonheur du jour made in Paris by Henry Dasson was engraved on an ormolu mount “Dasson et Cie 1888.” It fetched $10,350.
A late Seventeenth Century English William and Mary marquetry walnut kneehole desk in the manner of Gerrit Jensen went to $5,175. An English William IV rosewood center table with a rouge marble top with a sunburst of various specimens realized $4,600, and a William IV carved mahogany tea poy on a pedestal base elicited $2,415.
An Eighteenth Century Spanish or Italian walnut flattop desk with ivory and exotic wood inlay depicting historical conquerors was $4,485, and a Seventeenth Century Italian carved and inlaid trestle table brought $4,025.
A French Louis XV-style kingwood partners’ desk with ormolu mounts, an inset leather top and four bombe drawers sold for $4,313, while an Eighteenth Century Louis XVI kingwood cartonnier with a rouge marble top and 21 removable leather drawers with drop down, tooled linen fronts sold for $3,220. An Eighteenth Century French provincial carved walnut serpentine commode with side drawers and a central secret drawer retained the original bronze hardware and sold for $3,220.
An English Edwardian carved walnut partners’ desk with a tooled leather top sold for $3,450.
A Nineteenth Century Italian neoclassical scagliola center table, circa 1810, with a faux painted malachite Greek border on the top sold for $3,435, and an Eighteenth Century Venetian painted library table brought $3,105.
A Nineteenth Century Continental, possibly Russian, center table with an inset white marble top supported on bronze rams’ heads, incurving legs with a medial marble shelf and on rams’ hooves fetched $3,450.
A set of six Portuguese carved mahogany dining chairs with tall backs attracted $3,680, and an Eighteenth Century Spanish walnut trestle table with spool turned legs and an iron stretcher realized $3,565. An Eighteenth Century Dutch rococo marquetry desk on bun feet went overseas for $2,530.
A late Nineteenth Century Pompeii-style bronze jardiniere in the form of three sphinxes sold for $4,485.
Paintings of distinction included a nude with a vase of flowers by Frank Weston Benson that sold to a collector for $18,975 and an 1861 American landscape with a boy herding cows by Paul Weber that realized $14,950. A Parisian street scene by Edouard Leon Cortes drew $13,800 from an area dealer.
A tonalist twilight Connecticut landscape by Bruce Crane sold for $8,625, and another autumnal scene, “A November Sunset,” an 1894 oil on canvas by John Joseph Enneking, drew $7,763. A signed view of Manayunk, Penn., by Philadelphia artist Walter Stuempfig went for $4,025.
The Seventeenth Century Dutch picture, an oil on panel study for “Paternal Advice,” which is also known as “The Satin Gown,” by an artist of the school of Gerard ter Borch sold overseas for $8,050.
“Masked Revelry, St Mark’s Square, the Doge’s Palace, Venice,” a circa 1800 work by an artist of the school of Pietro Longhi, sold to a buyer on the phone from Malta for $8,050.
A pair of Eighteenth Century Italian overdoor panels with floral still lifes brought $6,325 from a Florida dealer. An Eighteenth Century Italian oil on canvas view of a road through trees with a dog was initialed and dated and realized $3,680.
The oil on canvas “Boys with Violins and Dog” by American painter Ernest deNagy realized $5,750. An Anthony Thieme 8-by-10-inch harbor scene drew $3,795.
Jean Dufy’s signed 1945 watercolor “Les Cavaliers” elicited $5,750, and the Nineteenth Century painting by Consalvo Carelli, “Fishermen, Bay of Naples,” sold for $3,450. A Seventeenth Century framed Flemish oil on canvas painting depicting a bird, its nest and a thistle was unsigned and sold for $3,450, thrice the estimate.
A set of ten Zuber wallpaper panels from the 1920s in “Le Jardin Chinois” pattern and retaining the original strong color drew $8,050 from a San Francisco collector, who also bought the lot of eight Zuber wallpaper panels in the same pattern, but without panels two and three, for $2,588.
A Seventeenth Century Flemish tapestry with figures in a garden attracted $7,475, and a room-size Oushak carpet that measured 17 by 13 feet went for $7,188.
A Tiffany sterling flatware service for 12 in the Windham pattern, circa 1920, comprising 236 pieces realized $8,343. An extensive 31-piece lot of Tiffany sterling serving pieces, also in the Windham pattern, sold for $3,910. A Tiffany sterling embossed coins silver water pitcher with a presentation monogram sold for $1,725.
A Nineteenth Century pair of French cassolettes in ormolu and cobalt glass with an ormolu top and Bacchus masque handles drew $3,795, while a pair of French Art Nouveau porcelain vases with an ormolu mounted holly vine sold for $3,738.
A pair of hand painted Sevres cabinet plates with yellow banding and gilt decoration brought $3,680.
A Twentieth Century malachite humidor with ormolu mounts by Mappin and Webb, in the form of a domed Greek temple, fetched $3,220.
A classical carved giltwood convex mirror with a carved spread-wing eagle crest sold for $3,450. One of the more curious items in the sale was a 12-inch metal lamp, possibly German, in the form of a turn of the Nineteenth Century cobbler’s workshop beneath a multistory gabled house that drew some competition and sold for $1,610.
All prices reported include the 15 percent buyer’s premium. For information, 617-661-9582 or www.crnauctions.com .
