Up and down auctions seem a trend of late. At the June 6 Grogan & Company auction, phones all over the gallery were called into action for lot two, a pencil and charcoal study of a woman by German artist Adolf Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel.
The picture was initialed and dated 1892 and lifted off when it sold for $32,200, ten times the estimate, to a German buyer who beat out a crowd of other European bidders on the phone. It had come from an area collection. Lot one, a French watercolor and mixed media lot, fared less well when it failed to elicit a bid.
Another favorite was “Gathering Irish Moss, Nova Scotia,” by the Nova Scotia born artist Jack Gray that fetched $21,850. The picture depicts a man raking moss in the shallows, with his dory beached beside him. Gray’s maritime heritage was reflected in his practice of living aboard boats on which he maintained studios where he worked. The picture went to a New England collector.
The sale drew a full house of dealers, retail buyers, museum curators and the director of at least one; the Internet and the phones were exceptionally busy throughout the event.
An oil on canvas, “Pastoral Landscape” by Edward Mitchell Bannister realized $20,700 on the phone. The artist was also born in the Canadian Maritimes and relocated as a young man to Rhode Island, which claims him as an adopted son. “Pastoral Landscape” is included in the catalogue raisonné by Ann Louise Avery now in progress and was accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Edward Shein.
The 25½-inch bronze “Enlevement d’Hippodamie” (“The Rape of Hippodamia”) by Parisian artist Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse was also of interest and sold on the phone for $26,450. It included art professor and historian Fred Licht in its provenance. A Twentieth Century sand casting of the Auguste Rodin bronze, “Main Gauche” (“Left Hand in Blessing”), signed A. Rodin and stamped “Alexis Rudier foundeur, Paris” brought $12,650.
The Seventeenth or Eighteenth Century Spanish Colonial oil on canvas, “The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine,” brought $6,440.
A polychrome bronze, “My Spirit Dances Forever,” after a Native American ghost dance by contemporary Western artist Dave McGary, was signed and dated 1992. The imposing figure of a handsome Native American man, clad in fringed leggings and a blue robe decorated with stars and animal imagery, was 33 inches, including the base, and sold for $4,600.
A rare French astrological mantel clock claimed significant attention during the sale preview, and when it came up in the sale, it realized $28,750. The clock, in working order, was made of gilt brass, with beveled glass and dials for the phases of the moon, the illustrated astrological signs, days of the week and months and sunrise and sunset, each labeled in English.
A Nineteenth Century Louis XV-style gilt-bronze garniture set by Prosper Roussel of Paris was assembled and drew $3,450. A French neoclassical patinated bronze mantel clock with the reclining figure of a woman was retailed by Tiffany and fetched $2,875. The clock dated from about 1900.
A fine 7¾-inch pair of silvered metal fluted vases from the Wiener Werkstatte by Josef Hoffmann topped the silver at $14,950. The vases had been plucked from the discard pile at a local estate and went to a European collector. A five-piece silver tea service, circa 1875‱885, by Boston maker Lewis E. Jenks for Crosby, Morse and Foss sold for $1,840.
Among art glass was a lot of ten Quezel glass shades in iridescent white and gold, each with an etched signature, along with a Steuben example in a green, silver and blue pattern. The lot sold on the phone for $3,450.
A late Eighteenth Century Continental carved giltwood wall mirror sold for $6,325. Grogan’s website noted that the mirror appeared original and had some losses to frame components and gilding, but that it was “a very honest, restorable mirror.” Bidders concurred.
Chinese porcelain, particularly the blue and white examples, garnered high interest and a coterie of Chinese dealers in the gallery. Their counterparts were on the phone and online, and most of the porcelain went to the Chinese trade, some within the United States and more to the Far East. They chased an 18-inch beaker-form vase described as “possibly Kangxi,” and decorated with scenes of daily life, to the $12,980 paid ultimately by an Internet buyer. A 16-inch blue and white baluster-form vase with celadon and red copper highlights, along with a blue celadon vase that was 14½ inches, realized $9,775.
A Chinese blue and white bottle form vase with an allover red copper bat decoration and marks sold for $8,050, and two blue and white brush pots were $5,750.
A lot of three celadon vessels, a crackle glaze brush pot on stand, a footed censer on a hardwood stand and a crackle glaze brush holder on a stand sold online for $3,450.
Other Chinese offerings included a carved giltwood display cabinet with ornate lacquer work panels on a carved hardwood stand that brought $5,015 from an Internet buyer and a 60-inch carved and ebonized wood étagère that sold online for $3,540.
Also, a hardwood center table with a marble insert was carved ornately and went online for $4,130, while a three-panel screen decorated with scenes of figures in a landscape on a gilt ground fetched $3,937.
A Chinese carved hardstone censer with a cover, a lacquered nest of oval boxes and a lacquered pin cushion was $1,495, while two porcelain vases, one decorated with biblical scenes and the other with bats, sold online for $5,900.
A famille rose vase in bottle form and decorated with mountainous scenes with figures brought $4,025, and a blue and white porcelain vase in bottle form was marked and went to the Chinese trade for $3,163.
A set of three Chinese Doucai dishes and two Doucai plates bearing later Kangxi, Wanli and Chenghua marks elicited $4,313 from a Chinese dealer in the gallery.
A Chinese famille verte baluster vase and cover, with a famille verte pot, was $2,195 to the same buyer. Both lots came from the estate of the late Boston area dealer Frederick Innes. A pair of 18-inch Chinese famille verte fish bowls was $3,835, and a 9-inch famille rose cider jug was $2,300.
A pair of Chinese Export vases decorated with cobalt blue swags and floral cartouches had jaunty pistol handles. They had been fitted as lamps and brought $1,955. A single Chinese Export vase in bottle form was decorated with bats and cloud bands and also brought $1,955. It, too, was fitted as a lamp.
Furniture was thither and hither, but a couple of examples were deservedly strong: An Eighteenth Century Georgian mahogany breakfront with banding and conch shell inlay sold for $10,350, and a George III figured mahogany breakfront with satinwood inlay was also $10,350. A George III mahogany demilune sideboard with fan inlay sold for $5,750.
A lot of two Louis XV marble top stands with parquetry inlay and two drawers each brought $5,750. The stands were each stamped J.C. Ellaume.
Among a group of historical blue Staffordshire wares, the standout was a soup ladle decorated with strolling figures in a landscape that was well contested and brought $3,450 from a buyer on the phone.
Arts and Crafts pottery was another arena of buying opportunities. A selection of Dedham Pottery plates in Iris, Magnolia, Grape, Turkey, Duck and Rabbit patterns, including six breakfast plates, two dinner plates and two soup bowls, fetched $1,180. Another Dedham group in the Azalea, Grape, Pond Lily, Magnolia, Iris and Rabbit patterns, including four tea cups, five small plates, five saucers and two small bowls, was $767.
A 4-inch Marblehead vase in bulbous form with a matte green speckled glaze and made by Hannah Tutt bore the MP ship mark and the initials H T. It realized $1,035.
A Schimmel ebonized baby grand piano with an accompanying ebonized and leather bench sold for $5,015, and a French violin made in 1803 by Nicolas Lupot, violin maker to the king in 1815 and to the Conservatoire de Paris in 1816, was $4,025.
An early Nineteenth Century French figured maple harp with giltwood and ormolu mounts by the innovative Paris maker Sébastien Érard sold for $3,163, while an Anglo Indian ivory and satinwood sewing box with engraved decoration brought $3,163, and a Twentieth Century carved bone model of a three-masted ship was $3,738.
All prices reported include the buyer’s premium. For information, www.groganco.com or 781-461-9500.
