At $30,000, Pablo Picasso’s “Femme du Barbu” pottery pitcher, marked Edition Picasso with a Madoura stamp, was the highest priced item in the sale. It was one of three pieces of Picasso pottery offered.
Review by Rick Russack, Additional Photos Courtesy Paul McInnis Auctioneers
HAMPTON, N.H. – Paul McInnis, whose brother John and sister Maureen Boyd are also auctioneers, holds a New Hampshire auctioneers license dated 1976. It’s the oldest active license in the state. With three auctioneers in the family, it shouldn’t be a surprise that their father was also an auctioneer, whom Paul McInnis started working for while still in high school. Both his brother and sister worked for him at one time or another. He is well known as a real estate auctioneer, licensed to sell in five states, and conducts sales of firearms, vintage automobiles and decorative arts as well. Due to health restrictions in place for the last year, sales have been online only, with the May 12 sale livestreamed from his Hampton gallery, with absentee and phone bidding also available.
Ninety-five percent of the material in his May 12 sale came from the Sanborn estate – think Chase and Sanborn coffee – from Chocorua, N.H. Chocorua is at the southern end of the White Mountains and has long been a summer destination for many visitors, with many large homes still existing, and there were also large hotels earlier in the Twentieth Century. Sanborn traveled the world and acquired some exceptional items along the way. This sale included outstanding Pablo Picasso pottery, oil paintings, tribal arts, silver, bronzes, Oriental rugs, a wide selection of Leica and other cameras and accessories, early porcelain license plates and some Asian items – one of which produced a very unexpected result.
The three pieces of pottery by Picasso (1881-1973), along with a Picasso linocut, were acquired directly from the artist during a trip to Paris. One piece of pottery was a 15½-inch-high pitcher, one was a limited edition 14-inch vase and the third was an unusual 20-inch platter with a goat’s head. Each piece did well, with the “Femme du Barbu” pitcher, marked Edition Picasso and Madoura, bringing $30,000. The blue and grey, partially glazed “Lampe Femme” vase, numbered 65/100, marked Edition Picasso and Madoura, finished at $21,600; and the colorful goat head platter “Tete de Chevre de Profil,” marked Empreinte Originale de Picasso and Madoura, finished at $16,800.
The four Picasso items in the sale had been purchased directly from the artist. This colorful 20¼-inch goat head platter, “Tete de Chevre de Profil,” with the Empreinte Originale de Picasso and Madoura stamps, finished at $16,800.
Picasso began working with clay in the late 1940s after visiting a ceramics exhibition in 1946 and meeting the owners of the Madoura works, who gave him access to the tools and equipment needed to express himself in clay. In exchange, they would market his ceramics. The collaboration with Madoura lasted more than 20 years. Some pieces were cast and hand-painted by the Madoura studio, under Picasso’s supervision, and some he did himself. He intended for them to be accessible to a wide market, so some pieces were produced in editions of up to 500 pieces, some in smaller editions, while some were unique. His son Claude estimated that “over a period of some 20 years, he modeled, shaped, designed, decorated, engraved and carved more than 3,500 fired clay objects.”
Sanborn was an avid collector of paintings and other artwork, some of which were included in this sale. Topping the selection was a rural scene with farm animals – cows and sheep – along with people by Constant Troyon (1811-1865). Troyon worked in the style of the Barbizon School. Although he concentrated on landscapes in his early career, he became well known later in life when he added animals and people to his landscapes. His works hang in the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery and several other collections. The painting sold for $7,200, well over the estimate. There were three paintings by Ernest Lawson (1873-1939). He was the only landscape painter among “The Eight,” and was influenced by the French Impressionists and the works of American artists, such as John Henry Twachtman and Julian Alden Weir. His “Forest Houses,” an oil on board, realized $4,800. “Rising Mist,” an oil on canvas, realized $3,900, and an untitled landscape with a stream realized $2,400. His works are in the Smithsonian and other major collections. An exceptional pair of pastel portraits by Constant J. Brochart (1816-1899) may have been a very good buy. They fetched $360, but works by the artist documented on the Internet have sold for substantially more.
The unexpected surprise of the day was a lot of three pieces of carved jade along a carved piece of crystal. The carved crystal item was a garment hook, an unusual piece, and the three white jades dated to the Nineteenth Century. McInnis did not know much about them, but interested buyers certainly did. The estimate for the lot was among the lowest in the sale, but the $15,600 selling price was the fourth highest in the auction, exceeded only by the Picasso ceramics. Also doing well was a Northwest Coast argillite pipe carved with a raven and other totemic figures. Although the pipe stem was broken, it reached $5,700.
This lot was, perhaps, the biggest surprise of the day. With three pieces of carved white jade and a carved crystal garment hook, the four pieces sold far over the estimate for $15,600.
Sanborn’s collection included a number of African tribal artifacts. To an untrained eye, they certainly looked alike and appeared to be of the same vintage. Bidders, however, saw them differently. Eleven masks were divided into four lots. Three lots each included three masks, while the other lot had two. All were attributed to Liberia and each bore the same estimate of $200/400. One lot sold for $2,280, one lot sold for $2,040 and the other two lots each sold for $60. Apparently, knowledgeable bidders knew there were differences.
Sanborn, or someone in the family, was a serious photographer and was able to afford top-of-the-line equipment. A circa 1973 Hasselblad 500 C Camera with a Planar f=80 mm lens sold for $840, and another Hasselblad lot, including a 500 EL camera with a Distagon f=50 mm lens and numerous filters, manuals and accessories sold for $1,020. But whoever the photographer in the family was, he or she also had a liking for Leica equipment and accessories. There were several lots. One lot, which included a Leica DBP camera 764-352 with an Elmar f=5cm lens, numerous other lenses, filters and accessories reached $1,920. Several other lenses and accessories were divided into multiple lots.
After the sale, Paul McInnis said, “It went well. I was pleased with the results we got on the European paintings, the cameras and certainly the Picasso ceramics. Those three pieces attracted a lot of interest from the right buyers. And I’m sure there were some bargains throughout – that’s what auctions are about.”
All prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. For information, www.paulmcinnis.com or 603-964-1301.
