The top lot in the sale was this 1961 oil on canvas work by Rodolfo Nieto titled “No. 114.” Offered on day two with an estimate of $10/15,000, the one-owner painting hit $16,250.
Review by W.A. Demers
SAVANNAH, GA. — Fine and decorative art objects from Southern residences and collections were offered during Everard’s June 25-27 spring auction, which was highlighted by property from the Savannah estate of Lorlee and Arnold Tenenbaum. The Tenenbaum selection was auctioned during the June 27 session, together with other consignments. Everard president Amanda Everard said the sale totaled $654,494 with 80 percent sold. There were 7,016 registrants between four online platforms.
A 1961 oil on canvas work by Rodolfo Nieto (Mexican/French Rodi, 1936-1985), titled “No. 114,” was offered on day two with an estimate of $10/15,000. The one-owner painting with copy of the original bill of sale from Galerie de France, Paris, 1965, hit $16,250. Nieto was a noted Mexican painter of the Oaxacan school. He was well received by his contemporaries in Paris, where he was exposed to the work of Edvard Munch and experimented in printmaking. He apprenticed under Diego Rivera and worked alongside his friend and artistic influence Rufino Tamayo. Nieto grew to be regarded as a Twentieth Century Mexican master.
A tender Victorian genre scene depicting a boy and his dalmatian in front of a fireplace charmed bidders and drew $22,500. The painting came from a private Charleston, S.C., collection. Presented in a giltwood frame, it measured 48-3/8 by 48-3/8 inches.
“Still Life with Melon and Artichoke” by Michael Triegel came from a private Ponte Vedra, Fla., collection and finished at $10,000. The mixed media on Masonite board was signed and dated 1998 lower left, initialed “T” lower right.
From a private Ponte Vedra, Fla., collection came a mixed media on Masonite board of a “Still Life with Melon and Artichoke,” by Michael Triegel (German, b 1968). Signed and dated 1998 lower left, initialed “T” lower right, the painting, which brought $10,000, bore a Worthington Gallery, Chicago, label on verso titling the work. In a silvered wood frame, it measured 18½ by 22½ inches.
A circa 1898 oil on paper work by Maxfield Parrish (American, 1870-1966), “Portrait of Henry Barnhurst in Uniform,” depicts the subject in a Spanish-American War uniform. It realized $8,960. Barnhurst is known to have been friends with Parrish and is the great-grandfather of the artwork’s South Carolina consignor in Hilton Head Island. Catalog notes further relate that, according to the consignor this portrait is of her great-grandfather, Henry Gregory Barnhurst (1875/77-1933) in his Spanish-American War uniform. Barnhurst was a friend of Parrish in Pennsylvania where Barnhurst was a sergeant in the Pennsylvania National Guard where he served 1898-1899. A copy of a photo of him as a boy and a copy of his Veteran’s Compensation Application filled out by his widow listing his service dates were included in the lot.
The sale was a Southern estates and collections, hence, a work by William Aiken Walker (1839-1921) was sure to be featured. His “Possum Hunter,” an oil on board depicting a man standing in a field of cotton holding a possum by the tail earned $5,938. Property from a private Charleston, S.C., collection, the painting was inscribed with title and measurements on verso, with John Hanna Galleries Detroit label on frame, in a giltwood frame. Frame size was 18-1/8 by 12 inches.
William Aiken Walker’s “Possum Hunter,” an oil on board depicting a man standing in a field of cotton holding a possum by the tail, earned $5,938.
Walker was well known for his documentation of Black Americans’ lives in the post-Reconstruction South. He was born and raised in South Carolina, and briefly served in the Confederate Army until he sustained an injury. Catalog notes state that he spent the latter half of the war as a draftsman creating maps and drawings of Charleston’s defenses. At war’s end, he moved to Baltimore and it was there that he made small paintings of the Old South for the tourist trade. This painting was 12-1/8 inches high by 6 inches wide.
Sculpture was also featured in the sale. A Corten steel sculpture, “Upright $2,” 1975-78, by Abstract Expressionist sculptor James Rosati (1912-1988) was bid to $11,250. Property of Richard Hanna & Byron (Steve) Dunham, Chicago, and Savannah, the edition 1/3 was signed and dated, on a marble base. Provenance noted that it was purchased from Atlanta Art Gallery on April 6, 1995, for $8,000. Catalog notes inform that Rosati was a professional violinist before turning to sculpture in 1934. He was a member of the Eighth Street Club and exhibited alongside friends and fellow artists, including Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, David Smith and Phillip Pavia. He is best known for his stainless steel sculpture, “Ideogram,” which stood between the Twin Towers in New York City.
A jewelry highlight was a Buccellati 18K gold and sapphire cuff bracelet, property of a Savannah, Ga., private collector that sold for $12,800. The 18K gold cuff was set with five cabochon blue sapphires with raised white gold star designs. One end of the cuff was marked “Italy, Buccellati, 96,” and the other end was marked “750.”
A Buccellati 18K gold and sapphire cuff bracelet, property of a Savannah, Ga., private collector, sold for $12,800.
Decorative arts included a pair of Nineteenth Century continental rococo giltwood mirrors, each with a rectangular mirror plate surmounted by a C-scroll carved crest and apron. Each measuring 57 inches high by 40 inches wide, the pair went out at $6,080.
Fetching $6,400 was a Meissen porcelain portrait plate, after Carl von Bodenhausen (German, 1852-1931). It featured a center with a hand-painted portrait surrounded by a blue and gilt pierced rim, with blue Meissen mark and “C. von Bodenhausen” on the underside. It had a 9¼-inch diameter.
Notable furniture results were obtained by a pair of Chinese yoke back huanghuali side chairs, Qing dynasty, Seventeenth Century from a collection of an international executive on Hilton Head Island. Topping out at $7,040, the chairs featured a serpentine rectangular splat flanked by curved rounded stiles above a rectangular seat inset with rattan. Molded square legs were joined by box stretchers.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. For information, 912-231-1376 or www.everard.com.
