Top lot in the sale was an Aaron Willard tall case clock, surpassing its $1/2,000 estimate to strike $13,200. The Boston, circa 1800, clock was inlaid with signed dial, initialed case and featured fluted quarter columns. It lacked only its weights and one pully wheel and stood 97 ¾ inches tall.
Review by W.A. Demers; Photos Courtesy Carlsen Gallery
FREEHOLD, N.Y. — An Aaron Willard tall case clock towered over its estimate of $1/2,000 to strike $13,200 at Carlsen Gallery’s Early June Antiques Auction on June 4. The Boston clock, circa 1800, was inlaid with signed dial, initialed case and featured fluted quarter columns. It lacked only its weights and one pulley wheel, standing 97¾ inches tall. It went to the New England trade.
There were 360 lots in this sale, which Russ and Abby Carlsen routinely fill with diverse selections of antiques, fine art and decorative arts. The auction drew about 1,100 registered bidders and totaled about $200,000 with just a dozen lots passed out of the 360 lots offered. While it was passed at auction, an oil on canvas by William Mason Brown (American, 1828-1898) found a buyer postsale and sold for $6,600. Born in Troy, N.Y., according to Wikipedia, Brown began his career as a portraitist, studying under Abel Buell Moore, Troy’s preferred portraitist, but became one of the better known of the Hudson River School’s second generation, renowned for romantic landscapes and still lifes. This particular painting depicted an Indian encampment, painted circa 1858.
A Louis Vuitton steamer trunk, circa 1890, with paper label, 18 by 31 ½ by 18 ½ inches, crossed the block at $6,250, surpassing its $1/2,000 presale estimate.
Bidding fervor for Louis Vuitton luggage remains unabated. A circa 1890 steamer trunk with paper label, crossed the block at $6,250, surpassing its $1/2,000 estimate. It’s going to London.
The stamp of Samuel Hart worked in Fulton, N.Y., identified a rare 6-gallon crock decorated with a bold cobalt dog went out at $4,656.
Russ Carlsen thought the pair of Chinese pottery garden seats alive with dragon decoration was a surprise. The seats were deemed to be in excellent condition and so realized $4,250. Each measured 19 by 13 inches.
Retaining its original ball feet, this Eighteenth Century American red gumwood kas was bid to $3,900.
Fetching $3,900 was an Eighteenth Century American red gumwood kas with its original ball feet. Stranding 73¼ inches tall, it was 74 inches wide and 25 inches deep.
A surprise result was obtained for an oil on canvas portrait of a woman in white, which soared to $3,240 above its $400/800 estimate. It was attributed to Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761-1845), a French painter and draftsman and creator of popular portrait paintings.
Per his biography on the website of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, “Boilly regularly exhibited portraits and genre scenes at the Paris Salons. When private patronage dwindled after the outbreak of the Revolution, he sought to reach a wider popular audience by painting boudoir scenes, of mildly licentious character, to be reproduced in quantity by the printmakers.” “He was a very good artist, a very well-executed painting,” observed Carlsen, who said it is going to Paris.
A four-piece Winterthur faux bois patio set left the gallery at $3,000.
With thoughts turning to outdoors, to gardens and patios, a four-piece Winterthur faux bois patio set proved desirable to bidders who pushed it to $3,000. It comprised a sofa, two chairs and a table.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. The gallery’s next sale will feature an important Americana collection and will take place most likely in September, date to be announced.
For more information, www.carlsengallery.com or 518-634-2466.
