Auction Highlights
Internet bidding was an important factor in Cowan’s Jan. 7 sale of Furniture, Paintings & Decorative Art. Estimated at $1,500-$2,000, a 15-inch-tall hand-painted and gilded porcelain vase by Handel shot past its $1,500-$2,500 estimate to sell through LiveAuctioneers for $5,100.
At Brunk’s Jan. 6 sale of 18th and 19th Century Antiques & Decorative Arts, the top fine-art lot to sell through LiveAuctioneers was a 42½ inch by 32 3/8 inch Italian school oil on canvas titled Susannah and the Elders. From a Canadian estate, the 18th- or 19th-century painting had been estimated at $1,000-$2,000, but a flurry of bids – 32 in all – carried the painting to a final online selling price of $12,000.
In their first auction of 2007 – a Jan. 5-6 offering of Fine Paintings, Antiques & Decorative Arts – Garth’ssold 144 items online, including a large Continental tapestry of wool with silk highlights and a “Death of the Stag” hunting scene as its central motif. The 99½ inch by 64 inch tapestry dating to the 17th or 18th century was estimated at $1,500-$3,000, but sold to a determined LiveAuctioneers bidder for $16,800.
On Dec. 20 at the distinguished Parisian auction house Aguttes, a Julius LeBlanc Stewart (American, 1858-1919) portrait of a stylish woman measuring 37 by 24¼ inches reached the midpoint of its estimate range to sell through LiveAuctioneers for $22,333.
On Dec. 17, Bruce Kodner Galleries held an Antiques, Diamonds & Estate auction, with heavy Internet participation through LiveAuctioneers. Art objects purchased online included a superb 18-inch bronze of a dancer designed by Claire Jeanne Robertine Colinet. Artist-signed on its marble base and estimated at $12,000-$16,000, the bronze recorded 44 bids before settling at an impressive $25,370.
