Property from the collection of Mr and Mrs George Fenimore Johnson, a total of 112 lots, was sold Saturday morning, January 19, at Sotheby’s. This well-attended sale, with the American trade highly represented, brought in $3,470,254 with 87.5 percent sold by lot. A listing of the top ten lots sold indicates the first eight were sold to the American trade, with private collectors picking up the last two.
All of the prices quoted in this review include the buyer’s premium of 25 percent on the first $20,000, 20 percent of the hammer price up to and including $500,000, and 12 percent on any amount over $500,000.
The sale started with a group of three candlesticks and a snuffer on stand for $2,188, shortly followed by Regency terrestrial globe on stand in mahogany, Cary, London, for $4,688, just under the high estimate.
Interest in the Ten Eyck family Chippendale parcel-gilt and mahogany large looking glass, circa 1775, ran high, with the piece selling for $49,000, well over the high estimate of $12,000. The following lot, a rare silk embroidered picture of the Goddess of Liberty, probably Boston, circa 1820, went well past the high estimate of $12,000, selling for $20,000. It measures 13½ by 11¼ inches.
Pictured in the January 25 issue of this paper was lot 14, the top lot in the sale, a Chippendale carved mahogany easy chair attributed to James Gillingham of Philadelphia. Dating circa 1770, it appears to retain the original finish and sold for $505,000 to the American trade. The presale estimate was $200/800,000.
A group of 12 Chinese Export famille verte figures of laughing boys, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century, went well over the $12,000 high estimate, selling for $46,000. Each is modeled standing and holding a vase of flowers on a high square base. The tallest figure is 13¼ inches. Two lots later, a pair of Chinese Export famille verte tureens, covers and stands, circa 1735‵0, each cover with a coiled snake handle and painted with sprays of flowers and butterflies, sold for $52,000, above the high estimate of $25,000.
With a high estimate of $6,000, a Queen Anne carved mahogany diminutive drop leaf dining table, Boston, circa 1765, sold for $31,000. The provenance lists Israel Sack and the table measures 27 inches high, 39 inches long and 14 inches deep. A Queen Anne walnut chair, Boston-Salem, Mass., circa 1755, with a high estimate of $12,000, sold for $34,000.
Close to half a million dollars was spent on two of the last few lots in the sale, the first a Chippendale carved and figured mahogany card table, the carving attributed to John Welch of Boston, circa 1750. This piece, estimated at $60/120,000, appears to retain the original hardware and surface. The second was a Chippendale carved mahogany easy chair, once fitted with casters, with a high estimate of $10,000. It sold for $265,000.
The Saturday afternoon portion of the Americana sale will appear in a forthcoming issue of this paper.
