Treadway Gallery said it was pleased with the results of the December 7, Arts and Crafts/Art Nouveau sale. At the John Toomey Gallery, 1,100 lots crossed the block, with nearly 90 percent selling and many exceeding presale estimates.
One of the most hotly contested works of art was an oil on canvas by French artist Edouard Frederic Wilhelm Richter, “Oriental Splendor,” 1876. The large, colorful painting showed a group of harem women gathered in an exotic courtyard. Strong demand ran the sale price to $252,000 on an estimate of $70/90,000. A work by Spanish artist Mariano Jose Maria Bernardo Fortuny y Carbo, “From the Urn,” featured an ethereal scene of a semi-nude winged fairy rising from a large urn nestled in a rose bush. It brought $54,000, far exceeding the $7/9,000 presale estimate.
Tiffany lamps led the way in the lighting category, with an interesting variety being offered. A Tiffany Studios table lamp with a 16-inch Daffodil pattern shade on a slender bronze base reached $48,000; it was topped by an extraordinary example of an 18-inch diameter Peony pattern leaded shade raised on a slender bronze vine-wrapped base, No. S1432, going for $102,000. Two floor lamps headed up the list, with one displaying a 12-inch leaded glass shade with a leaf and vine pattern in multiple shades of green going out at $19,200.
An unusual Tiffany Studios table lamp featuring a bronze base set around the edge, with green glass jewels supporting a domed bronze shade inset with two large turtle back glass panels in green Favrile glass, also reached $19,200. A classic Tiffany Lily-style table lamp with seven upright arms, each fitted with a gold Favrile glass lily-form shade, reached $21,600.
In addition to the Tiffany lamps, a Pairpoint puffy grape pattern 14-inch shade on a bronzed metal base cast with large grape clusters, sold for $18,000, while a wonderful Arts and Crafts lamp by Dirk Van Erp, featuring a hand-hammered bulbous copper base supporting a mushroom-shaped copper shade inset with four mica panels, topped out at $24,000.
Among the choice pieces of Arts and Crafts furniture that brought strong prices were a Charles Limbert cafe chair going to $15,600; a Gustav Stickley hall bench brought $12,000; and a Gustav Stickley three-door bookcase with good original finish and hardware, $18,000. Another unique piece was a Shop of the Crafters “Manchester” tall case clock in mahogany, featuring Egyptian revival inlaid designs. With the original finish and bearing its original paper label and instruction label, this timepiece sold for $15,600.
Rounding out the Arts and Crafts segment, a Teco Pottery vase designed by Fritz Albert featured a four-sided shape with narrow inset panels and low open straps at the top, all highlighted by a fine green matte glaze. Standing 14½ inches tall, this piece brought $12,000. A 20-inch amphora vase, designed by Eduard Stellmacher, with a tall slender body boldly sculpted with an entwining octopus above a crab at the side of the base, reached $15,600.
Looking like it could have just come off the bridge of the Starship Enterprise , a striking armchair designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Price Tower, Bartlesville, Okla., reached $14,400.
A nice selection of furniture designed by George Nakashima also found eager buyers. His laurel wood, elm and rosewood side cabinet, No. 247L, was manufactured by Widdicomb in 1961, and found a new home at $9,600.
A desk from French designer Jacques Adnet also did very well. It featured a black metal frame with a cane-wrapped thin stretcher supporting a rectangular black leather top with brass hardware and suspending to drawers with woven basket fronts. This unique piece also sold for $9,600.
Rounding out sales in the Modernist category was a unique floor lamp designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Kelly. The bronze base comprised four slender legs supporting a wide, low conical white aluminum shade dated from around 1954, and sold it for $7,800.
For information, www.treadwaygallery.com or 513-321-6742.
