?> William Morris Hunt Painting Lights Up Grogan Auction - Antiques And The Arts Weekly

02 May 2006 / 0 Comment

William Morris Hunt Painting Lights Up Grogan Auction

Published: May 2, 2006

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“I am thrilled,” Jeffrey R. Brown said simply after he outlasted all comers for a stunning painting of Gloucester Harbor by William Morris Hunt for a record $391,000 at Grogan & Company’s recent sale. Brown, of Brown-Corbin Fine Art in Milton, Mass., called the painting “extraordinary” and “irreplaceable.” He said he was buying for inventory, but that he hoped to see it in a museum one day. Several museums did indicate interest, but the competition came down to Brown and Newport, R.I., dealer William Varieka, both of whom were bidding in the room after they defeated the more trepid phone bidders.

The painting is one of two views of Gloucester Harbor that Hunt painted in the summer of 1877. The other is part of the substantial collection of the artist’s work held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. As he hammered it down, auctioneer Michael B. Grogan observed, “It’s not every day we get to have a painting that is better than one at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.”

Descended in the family of Gordon Prince of Boston, the picture had it all: a brilliant mastery of light, atypical of Hunt’s usual dark works. As the artist himself put it, he “painted a picture with light in it.”

A painting with other Prince provenance, a portrait of Frederick O. Prince, grandfather of Gordon, by Joseph Ames, brought $3,738. Prince, a former mayor of Boston, had loaned the picture to the Museum of Fine Arts in 1883.

Bidding on the Canadian picture “Onions” by Quebec-born Marc Aurele de Foy-Suzor Cote that was signed and dated “Suzor Cote ’96” opened at $10,000 against a $3/5,000 estimate and escalated easily to $71,875. A dealer on the phone from Canada was the victorious buyer.

While they were not a record, two paintings by French artist Marcel Dreyfus Dyf brought strong prices from two separate phone bidders. His signed “Vase of Flowers” brought $11,500, and “Still Life with Flowers and Hat” drew $16,675. Both went to the trade; one to a Canadian dealer, the other to a Midwestern dealer.

Ralph Cahoons Ms Crocketts Victory Garden referred to the PBS series of the 1970s Crocketts Victory Garden and featured five mermaids working in a garden with a ship and anchor in the background The painting brought 31050

Ralph Cahoon’s “Ms Crockett’s Victory Garden” referred to the PBS series of the 1970s, Crockett’s Victory Garden, and featured five mermaids working in a garden with a ship and anchor in the background. The painting brought $31,050.

Internet bidders were so eager to have the indistinctlysigned oil on canvas by Romanian artist Elena Popea, “Woman andGirl by the Harbor,” that they were jumping the bids. The picturewas estimated at $300/500 and brought $3,105.

A watercolor abstraction by Hans Hoffmann from a Vermont collection went to the phone for $17,250,and the very pretty oil on canvas view of blue mountains and the sea, “Hawaii” by Francis Orville Libby, went to a Boston dealer for $4,025 against its estimated $800 to $1,200.

“Ms Crockett’s Victory Garden” by Ralph Cahoon was a reference to the PBS series of the 1970s, Crockett’s Victory Garden, which featured the esteemed Jim Crockett. The painting portrays five mermaids working in a garden with a ship and anchor in the background. It brought $31,050 from Cape Cod dealer Ralph Diamond, who acknowledged the enormous popularity of Cahoon pictures on the Cape.

The Eighteenth Century Italian School oil on canvas “Figures in an Allegorical Landscape” brought a strong $24,150 from a phone bidder who also took a Continental oil on panel impression of “St George Slaying the Dragon” for $3,220.

Eighteenth Century Continental pictures were also of interest, as a “Harbor Scene with Figures” brought $7,475.

The Willard Family Tree in watercolor interested buyers, who drove it way past its estimated $400/600 to $4,600.

A fine early Nineteenth Century carved whalebone swift sold for $3,738, and a stick barometer from Sewill of Liverpool drew $2,415.

A large pair of Sevres porcelain vases one shown was painted with maidens and putti and signed A Collot and sold on the phone for 31050

A large pair of Sevres porcelain vases (one shown) was painted with maidens and putti and signed “A Collot” and sold on the phone for $31,050.

The star of the Continental furniture was, without question,the 74-inch George III carved giltwood demilune console table withmarquetry inlay that sold on the phone for $24,150. The table wasdeaccessioned by an area institution and needed a littlerestoration. It sold to a New Jersey buyer who called 20 minutesinto the sale to bid. A set of six George III side chairs brought$5,750.

A George I burl walnut chest of drawers with three drawers over four drew $6,325 from an absentee bidder, who also bought a George II padouk four-drawer chest for $3,738.

A set of four Adams-style painted armchairs with caned seats sold for $2,300, and a Seventeenth or Eighteenth Century Continental fruitwood vargueno with beautiful marquetry inlay and iron mounts sold for $5,175.

A Nineteenth Century Louis XVI-style marble-top demilune commode with marquetry inlay and ormolu mounts was stamped “C. Pepin” in three places and sold for $2,415.

A late Nineteenth Century American mahogany and satinwood stand with a single drawer and a serpentine front sold for $5,750.

A federal-style mahogany serpentine front sideboard with nice bell flower inlay sold to an Internet buyer for $3,738. Speaking after the sale, Grogan said, “It must have been older than we thought!”

A lot of 14 carved and polychrome wood santos from Puerto Rico that dated from about 1790 through 1885 brought $5,463, and an imposing 19-inch medieval gilt copper crucifix was a fairly strong $2,760. They went to a Puerto Rican dealer on the phone who was successful with many similar objects. An Italian pair of carved and polychrome wall mirrors realized $2,530 from the same phone bidder, while a Continental gilt wall mirror with a sturdy carved overhang brought $2,415.

Four Nineteenth Century neoclassical panels painted with images of musical instruments and classical reliefs brought $6,038, and a pair of circa 1800 Continental panels decorated with images of men fishing and fencing fetched $2,760. A pair of Eighteenth Century brass wall sconces with shield-form backs and cut glass shades was $2,645.

A pair of crystal and gilt metal vasiform wall sconces, each with two lights, drew $4,600.

A pair of very large (32 inches) French porcelain vases from Sevres in blue was painted with maidens and putti and signed “A Collot.” The pair sold on the phone for $31,050.

The pair of Chinese Export dogs appeared to be singing for their supper They brought 24150

The pair of Chinese Export dogs appeared to be singing for their supper. They brought $24,150.

An impressive Nineteenth Century pair of Chinese carved greenjade lanterns attested to the quality of Asian objects across theblock when it sold for $24,150. Two lots later, a pair of ChineseExport figures of seated dogs, also from the Nineteenth Century,emphasized the point when it also drew $24,150 from a differentphone bidder. A Chinese silk needlework fan with a carved whitejade handle with a $200/300 estimate fetched $4,313.

An Edo period Japanese two-panel paper screen titled “Lotus with Moon” and painted elegantly in mineral color on gold brought $18,975 against the estimated $4/6,000. It came from the collection of a Vermont woman who bought in the 1970s in New York and who also consigned the Hoffmann.

An Eighteenth Century Japanese scroll painting on silk with an image of two quail in a landscape with berries went to another phone bidder for $4,025 against the estimated $200/400, and a small Japanese carved wood figural group with the same estimate went to $4,600.

An 8 1/2-inch Gorham hammered silver and mixed metal footed bowl decorated with a rooster, birds, butterflies and a spray of crab apple elicited a very strong $9,488, but it was Danish silver that commanded the greatest attention. A set of eight Georg Jensen silver cordials with grape decoration drew $5,175, more than ten times the high estimate. A Jensen silver compote, also with a grape decoration, sold for $4,313, and an 11-inch Jensen silver divided vegetable dish fetched $3,335.

All prices quoted reflect the 15 percent buyer’s premium. For information, 781-461-9500 or www.groganco.com.



   

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