The sixth year of B&D Johnson’s Greenwich Fall Antiques Show brought nearly 50 exhibitors to the Greenwich Civic Center on a splendid, peak fall foliage weekend, October 18 and 19. The benefit show for the local Kiwanis featured an abundant roster of Americana exhibitors from New England, the metro area and from as far away as Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Ontario, Canada.
Promising “From Country to Formal, A Buy for Everyone’s Taste” in his preshow advertising, promoter Derek Johnson delivered on his pledge by augmenting his bread and butter Americana dealers with other specialists, such as John Forster from Sarasota, Fla., with a lineup of rare English and American barometers, and Charles Brown of Marion, Mass., who brought Chinese furniture, accents, porcelains and rugs.
Johnson’s profession is antiques, so he knows what it takes to help his roster of dealers have a successful weekend, whether that means making sure the show is sufficiently advertised or even helping his exhibitors pack in †as he was observed during setup before the show.
China Trader Antiques, Brown’s business, offered a Nineteenth Century sideboard in walnut from Shanxi province †weighing in at 300 pounds, it is not the lightest of furniture pieces to move, according to Brown, but walnut is a rare wood in China and most furniture is made from elm. Despite being more difficult to carve, walnut is deemed special by wood artisans, and this piece was practical to boot, with seven drawers and two sets of doors.
Brown, collecting for the past 11 years, also showed a pair of splayed leg chairs and a selection of Tibetan silver pieces from the late Nineteenth to early Twentieth Century, including four pair of yak butter altar lamps and monks’ beggar bowls set atop a Tibetan cabinet and backed by colorful prayer flags.
Staffordshire and candlesticks were selling briskly early on the show’s opening day for Patricia Keady of Drake Field Antiques, Longmeadow, Mass. On display in her booth with its trademark black and white checkerboard floor pattern was a very strongly grained tiger maple stand from Vermont or New Hampshire, circa 1825, and two pair of Hessian andirons, circa 1850 and 1890. What really caught one’s eye, however, was a pair of rare “tap” or tavern candlesticks, each of which featured a small bell used for summoning the tavern keeper. Circa 1870, the English sticks were only the third pair 25-year-veteran Keady has seen in her career.
Other highlights included a Nineteenth Century American school painting, “On the Farm,” an oil on canvas laid down on Masonite, signed illegibly and measuring 20 by 26 inches. A taper leg mahogany game table or server, circa 1810, displayed excellent form and wood grain.
A sold tag quickly appeared on an oil on canvas parade scene on one of the John Saradjian’s booth’s walls. The Stamford, Conn., dealer was also offering a set of six Chippendale federal mahogany side chairs, plus an armchair copy, as well as a New England Hepplewhite mahogany card table, circa 1780‱800. The table’s additional tapering of the legs below the inlaid cuff was a feature of only a few choice Salem and Boston tables, according to the dealer. Caucasian rugs Saradjian had brought, including a Shirvan and a prayer rug from the Nineteenth Century, were also getting keen interest.
“Greenwich is one of my favorite shows to do because it is dazzling, the dealers are fun and passionate about antiques, and the Johnsons are great to work with,” said June Bertini of Ackerson Homestead Antiques. The Park Ridge, N.J., dealer who specializes in Americana had a framed hooked rug in Parcheesi board pattern with an American flag motif, circa 1880‱920, along with a Nineteenth Century oil on panel of a husband and wife seated at a table, American school, incised on the reverse and painted in 1823. An additional notable item was a rare looking glass with two clasped hands at the crest, inscribed “Liberty.” Made in France, probably for the American market, the Nineteenth Century mirror was stickered at $1,500.
A seascape by Alfred Thompson Bricher (1837‱908) commanded one wall at Roberto Freitas American Antiques, Stonington, Conn., while a carved gilt gesso eagle architectural figure once owned by the late Wayne Pratt stood guard over another corner. The American eagle was probably from coastal New England, circa 1850‱870. Additional highlights were a marine painting by James Edward Buttersworth (1817‱894), an oil on board titled “Ships Caught in a Storm,” measuring 8¾ by 6½ inches, and, from a Midwestern collection, a Chippendale carved and figured mahogany block end and reverse serpentine chest of drawers from Boston, circa 1770.
The show featured a couple of antique print dealers, including B. Fine Art, Andover, Mass., showing “Papillions,” 1929, by French artist E.A. Seguy. Three pair of the Art Deco pochoir prints were on view, and they were being sold in pairs, mounted on archival French mats with handcrafted gold and black frames. A set of six E.H. Burritt’s “Atlas of the Heavens” steel engravings in English burl frames were also offered, as was a set of 12 Chinese fish watercolors on pith, circa 1850‱896.
Essex Antiquarians, Essex, Mass., came with its usual booth full of period furniture, art and decorative accessories from around the world, including a couple of small gems †a hand painted Georgian jewelry box with its original wallpaper lining intact and a beautiful scene pained on its top, as well as a painting by John Henry Dolph (1835‱903). Titled “The Master’s Chair,” the scene by the painter of domestic animals showed two dogs and a cat eyeing one another, each trying to establish “alpha pet” status. Also on offer was an American mahogany Chippendale-style serpentine front slant lid desk, circa 1800. Interesting details included a compass rose inlay on the slant lid, echoed inside on a central door, and a pair of brass handles on each side of the piece to aid in moving it.
Ed and Anita Holden, who divide their time between homes in Sherman, Conn., and Naples, Fla., concurred that “Greenwich was a very pretty show with a wide variety of selections.” The Johnson family were very nice to work with, added the Holdens, and are extremely considerate of their dealers. “Who else brings you pizza for pack-out? In all, it was a pleasure to do the show.” Among the Holdens’ sales was a graduated set of five pair of English Ten Diamond candlesticks. The rare set featured the Ace, King, Prince, Queen and Princess, and stemmed from the second half of the Nineteenth Century, made in England for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The Holdens also showed a formal prancing horse weathervane of cast and sheet iron that had been made by the Rochester Iron Works, Rochester, N.H., circa 1880. With crisp casting, cut sheet iron tail and crusty weathered surface, the horse, similar to an index form, measured 24½ inches long.
Eighteenth through mid-Twentieth Century fine art was well represented at this show. Blake and Monica Kemper, who run Solomon Suchard Antiques, came from Shaker Heights, Ohio, with their collection of paintings and French ceramics. Blake Kemper pointed out a captivating Paris school work from the early Twentieth Century that captured the role of America’s nouveau wealthy art patrons in the lives of artists of the period. Titled “Dans l”Atelier de l’Artist,” the circa 1925 work depicted a well-dressed woman seated in an artist’s studio, her thoughtful, considering gaze undoubtedly directed at an avant-garde work not seen by the viewer. The Kempers also showed works by French artists Maurice Leonard (1899-1971) and Fernand Lavel (1886‱966), the latter represented by an impressionistic parade scene of rue a Montmartre, dated 1957.
Nicholas Di Benedetto of East Quogue, N.Y., not only sells paintings but restores them as well. His main attraction was an atmospheric oil on canvas by Nineteenth Century American artist Thomas Chambers, a night scene with two people gazing at the moon. Known for his landscapes and marine scenes handled in a naïve or primitive style, Chambers used bold colors and rhythmic shapes, applied with brushwork that made his work seem vital and lively.
Fine art is also a core ingredient in the booth of Jaffe & Thurston, Wawarsing, N.Y., who pair Nineteenth and Twentieth Century fine art with American furniture and accessories. The dealer showcased an oil on canvas Lake Placid landscape painting by Andrew F. Bunner (1841‱897), “Whiteface Mountain from Lake Placid,” 18¼ by 30¼ inches. A furniture highlight was a two-drawer late classical mahogany drop leaf work table from Massachusetts, circa 1840, and among the many accessories was a footed mahogany and silver gallery tray that held five cut crystal champagne flutes.
After a year’s hiatus from the show, Douglas and Karen Constant of Orient, N.Y., returned with a sizable collection of American furniture and fine art. The dealers’ penchant for Federal furniture was evident in a labeled inlaid mahogany sideboard by Elbert Anderson, New York City, circa 1790. The piece had a shaped top over a narrow drawer above bowfront cupboard doors framed by convex doors on bellflower inlaid legs. Also on offer was a Massachusetts maple Queen Anne highboy, circa 1730‱750, 64 inches high, with molded cornice above long drawers over a base with small drawers raised on cabriole feet. Art included an oil on canvas painting by Arthur J.E. Powell (1864‱956), “The Broken Dam” at Ten Mile River, N.Y., measuring 25 by 30 inches.
Foo dogs †the timeless pairing of male and female used to protect hearth and home in China †provided the spice among a broad selection of smalls Louis Beauchamp brought to be sold under the aegis of Witch Tree Antiques, Woodbury, Conn. The dealer had good sales early on Saturday, including two sets of glassware, cutlery, bread trays, a pair of lamps, a bread board and a decanter.
At Bonsal-Douglas, Haddam, Conn., owner Isabelle Seggerman decorated the booth with a Spanish colonial theme, including a Madonna of the Coronation figure, circa 1780, of carved wood, polychrome and gilt and glass eyes. From a private Connecticut collection she had a polychrome Spanish bowl, circa 1780, 17 inches in diameter and 5 inches deep, decorated with a genre and animal motif. Seggerman related that most of her big sales during the show were to Europeans.
John and Marlene Forster of Sarasota, Fla., divided their space at the show between his collection of antique barometers, which he sells under the name Barometer Fair, and her collection of antique and estate jewelry. They have been in the trade for about 25 years. John Forster had a couple of American examples, but most were English, as he explained that the earliest examples will always be English. A highlight was an Eighteenth Century stick barometer with an enclosed tube and Chippendale-influenced quarter-round fluting, circa 1780. Marlene Forster showcased bangle bracelets from the Victorian age, including one with garnets and another that was chased in 15K gold.
An American cherry lap desk, circa 1830, was a highlight at Dana Tillou Fine Arts, Buffalo, N.Y. With banded and maple drawers, the pine, polar and cherry piece had ebonized corners and stood on a cast iron stand. There was a small Rhode Island Queen Anne table with shaped top and pad feet, circa 1750, and art gems included an arresting trompe l’oeil by Roy Hobdell (b 1931), an oil on canvas painted circa 1960‶5. Among the painting’s realistic assemblage of “Theater Memorabilia” there is a “photo” that is probably a portrait of the artist, according to Tillou.
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