November 12, 2010 - Auction Central News

Morton Kuehnert’s Nov. 18 auction highlights at home in 1923 mansion

Chinese Chippendale cabinet. Image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert.

HOUSTON – An English Chinese Chippendale-style cabinet nestled among ancient live oaks. An exquisitely carved pedestal table poised at the foot of an elegantly flared Lindberg free-floating staircase. A Louis XV walnut daybed classically framed by French patio doors and a Louis XVI gilded mirror reflecting Jean Zuber’s “Views of America” wallpaper.

These are a few of the items in Morton Kuehnert’s Nov. 18 Catalog Auction photographed at 2 Longfellow Lane, a Classic Georgian-style estate in Houston located a stone’s-throw from Rice University in Shadyside. (The recently restored mansion is currently listed for sale with Dianne McDonough, John Daugherty Realtors, for $12 million.)

The Nov. 18 auction, which will include Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com, features a cache of 20th-century fine art and a treasure chest of baubles and timepieces. Beautiful 19th- and 20th-century European and American furniture, along with antique kitchen copper, mantel clocks, art glass, china, and other defining pieces will be offered, as well.

A 5.03 carat princess cut diamond has a pre-auction estimate of $100,000-$125,000. A man’s 18K Corum 15-gram-ingot Swiss quartz watch is estimated at $1,700-$2,300. The matching ladies Corum is estimated at $1,500-$1,800. An 18K diamond powder compact case with 20 diamonds weighing a total of 1 carat is estimated at $7,000-$10,000. A signed Van Cleef and Arpels 18K cigarette case is estimated at $5,000-$8,000.

The stunning English Chinese Chippendale style cabinet on a stand is estimated at $25,000-$35,000; while a Chinese chippendale carved giltwood over-mantel mirror is estimated at $18,00-$24,000. The English mahogany/rosewood pedestal table is estimated at $6,000-$8,000; and a Louis XV daybed is estimated at $1,000-$2,000.

In the category of paintings, an Alexander “Alex” Koolman, R.P.A., R.P. (British, 20th century) oil on canvas titled La Dona del Sur is estimated at $1,500-$3,000. The Norman Stevens, A.R.A. , (British, 1937-1988) oil-on-canvas artwork Painted Henge is expected to make $2,500-$5,000; and the John Plumb’s (British, 1927-2008) Snow Scene watercolor is estimated at $1,500-$2,500.

In the area of decorative art, a pair of five-light Baccarat candelabra is estimated at $3,000-$4,000. A 19th-century French marble and brass mantel clock made for Shreve, Crump & Low, Boston is estimated at $1,500-$2,000. A pair of Japanese Shibayama lacquer panes could fetch $2,500-$3,000.

A kitchen full of copper is represented in several lots, with a cauldron, a stew pot, bed warmers, a watering can, a frying pan and a stove pot.

For additional

About 2 Longfellow Lane:

Two Longfellow was originally designed by architects Harrie T. Lindeberg and John Staub. From 2008 to 2010, the home was restored to its original design by the new owners, who were fortunate to find the original blueprints in the basement. The home is 11,336 square feet, and the lot is 75,000 square feet. For additional information visit www.johndaugherty.com.

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View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Carved mahogany/rosewood pedestal table. Image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert.

Louis XVI giltwood mirror. Image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert.

Louis XV walnut daybed. Image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert.

Tiffany, Remington raise Clars to its biggest auction total ever

‘Outlaw,’ an important bronze by Frederic Remington sold for $137,950. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

OAKLAND, Calif. – When Redge Martin, president of Clars Auction Gallery, dropped the final hammer on the last of over 700 lots he called on Nov. 7, he knew this auction would go in the books as Clars’ largest sale in the company’s 62-year history. Sales totaled $1.67 million, fueled in large part by the exceptional works from the Carmen and Allen Christensen estate of Atherton, Calif. The collection from the Christensen estate contributed close to $1 million for the sale. The Christensens were dedicated to supporting the arts and were important collectors of European, American and Asian Art with many of their pieces on loan to museums worldwide.

The most exciting event of the sale was a rare carved jade, diamond and color gemstone scent bottle that was executed by Tiffany & Co. for the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition. One of only two created by Tiffany for this event, its mate resides in the permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Bidding on the scent bottle and accompanying presentation box drew international and national bidding, ultimately selling for $236,950. The owner of this piece of American design history ensures that it will never be sold again and will reside in another permanent collection.

Also coming from the Christensen Estate was an important bronze sculpture by Frederic Remington (American, 1861-1909) entitled Outlaw. Again, drawing strong national and international bidding, this piece sold for $137,950.

Fine art performed beyond expectation with a pair of miniature dioramas inside painted walnut shells by Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907-1954) drawing much attention. Entitled Wedding and Honeymoon, this pair earned $38,513. Furthering the exceptional offerings from Mexican artists was Portrait of a Young Mexican Boy by Diego Rivera (1886-1957) which sold for $23,700.

Decorative art offerings from the Christensen estate overall went for well beyond expectation. An amazing collection of German ivories, which included a Baroque tankard, was expected to sell for $10,000 to $15,000 but sold for $20,145.

Their Asian collection in particular was exceptional and the dollars realized in that category confirmed it. A Chinese sectional ivory model inspired by the Nine-Dragon Wall (Jui Long Bi) in Beijing sold for $17,775 followed by a pair of Chinese ivory wrist rests, Qing Dynasty, which sold for the same amount. A 20th-century Chinese ivory small table screen earned $11,750. Surpassing all estimates was a Chinese archaic bronze three-leg ding, Western Zhou period, which brought $38,513. From Japan, a pair of cloisonné enamel decorated imperial presentation vases, Meiji Period, dated 1903 earned an impressive $29,375.

The jewelry offerings from the Christensen collection also turned heads. A highlight from this category was a Victorian antique diamond and multicolor gemstone necklace with pendant, which sold for $21,150

Clars Auction Gallery was honored to have been selected to represent this important estate and was extremely pleased with the results. Deric Torres, specialist with Clars who handled the estate on their behalf commented, “While we knew this sale would bring international and national bidding, it exceeded even our expectations.”

With one more auction schedule in December, Clars’ 2010 year overall will be the biggest in their 62 year history tracking to achieve $10 million in sales.

For more information, call Clars Auction Gallery at (888) 339-7600, or email: info@clars.com.

Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

This rare scent bottle executed by Tiffany & Co. for the 1893 Columbian Exposition sold for $236,950. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

This pair of miniature mixed media dioramas inside painted walnut shells entitled ‘Wedding and Honeymoon’ by Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907-1954) achieved $38,513. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

This amazing collection of German ivories including a Baroque tankard sold for $20,145. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery. — This amazing collection of German ivories including a Baroque tankard sold for $20,145. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Galler81205988120598y.

This spectacular ivory is a 20th-century Chinese model inspired by the None-Dragon Wall (Jiu Long Bil) in Beijing achieved $17,775. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

Highlighting the Japanese offerings was this pair of Japanese cloisonné enamel decorated imperial presentation vases from the Meiji Period (1903), which sold for $29,625. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

Hirsch antique advertising collection at Morphy’s, Nov. 19-20

Rare Opia Cigars reverse-on-glass sign with embossed flowers and gold-foil lettering, near mint, 10 inches by 9 inches, estimate $1,000-$1,500. Morphy Auctions image.

DENVER, Pa. – In the field of graphic design, Chicagoan David Hirsch is known as the man with the golden eye. A founding partner of David Hirsch Design Group and later Hirsch O’Connor, he was the mastermind behind the artwork that branded a legion of commercial entities and products. And while it may be possible for many professionals to leave their work at the office, it has never been an option for Hirsch, who cannot view life through anything but an artistic lens, 24/7. The allure of illustrative imagery has always been a fascination to Hirsch, on or off the job, and it was his love of design that launched and perpetuated the phenomenal collection of antique advertising tins, signs, store displays and other promotional items he amassed over 40 years with his wife, Marcia. That collection, in its entirety, will be auctioned Nov. 19-20, 2010 at Morphy’s. Internet live bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.

The Hirsch collection is a visual feast representing every color of the rainbow – incredible signs of glass, tin, porcelain and paper; extraordinarily rare tins, many with paper labels that pre-date chromolithography; countertop and floor-model store displays, and every other imaginable form of packaging adorned with advertising.

Well over half of the articles to be offered in the 1,435-lot sale pertain to tobacco, with as many as 500 of them associated with cigars. There’s a 4-foot reverse-on-glass Ben Bey Cigars sign with porcelain store-counter lighter, a commanding 8-foot reverse-on-glass sign advertising Chancellor Cigars, and several signs featuring beguiling beauties of the late-19th and early 20th centuries. Among them is a stunning reverse-on-glass sign for Opia Cigars that features an ethereal woman surrounded by poppies and stars. Hirsch said he finds it curious that there is no manufacturer’s identification anywhere on the sign. “Considering it’s called ‘Opia’ and decorated with poppies, I can’t help wondering if the product might have had more than just tobacco in it,” Hirsch joked. The collection also contains both a tip tray and a change receiver with advertising for Opia.

Many items in the sale are as close to factory fresh as anyone could hope for. A pre-1900 Sweet Lavender Tobacco sign still has its original tobacco-theme cabinet cards attached to it, while a superb 24-inch-diameter Bull Durham charger is complete with its original ornate frame and shipping frame. One of only a few known examples, a Home Run Cigar tin features images of baseball players on a field and is expected to make $8,000-$12,000. Another baseball-oriented item – a pocket tin for 3-Strikes Granulated Cut Plug Tobacco – features the image of an old-time baseball player. One of only a handful in existence, it is expected to cross home plate at $5,000-$8,000.

Metal bins once used to hold cigars for consumers to access in stores are extremely desirable. Among those in the Hirsch collection are an example for Kennebec Havana Cigars, with a beautiful image of an Indian chief on three sides, estimate $2,000-$4,000; and a circa-1910 Moa cigars tin store bin with an appealing image of an emu-like bird, estimate $2,000-$4,000.

While the Hirsch collection presents an incomparable panorama of tobacciana, it also includes a wealth of exceptional coffee tins, early marshmallow tins, spool cabinets, display cabinets, Ever-Ready razor displays, lozenge and medicinal canisters, and counter displays and signs for a huge variety of other products.

For additional information on any lot in the sale, call 717-335-3435. View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

First Apple computer to be sold at UK auction

Apple 1 on display at the Smithsonian Institution. Image taken by Ed Uthman on March 28, 2003. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

LONDON (AP) – The first Apple computer – together with a letter signed by Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs to the original owner – will be sold at a London auction this month.

Described by Christie’s as a “historic relic,” the Apple-1 was introduced in 1976 and sold without a casing, power supply, keyboard or monitor.

But it was the first personal computer with a fully assembled motherboard, at a time when personal computers were sold as self-assembly kits.

The first Apple-1 computers were priced at $666.66 and were dispatched from Jobs’ parents’ house.

The auction house said Friday the item is rare because all the components are still in their original box and came with a letter signed by Jobs.

It will be sold on Nov. 23 and is expected to fetch up to 150,000 pounds ($242,400.)

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Britain’s venerable double-decker gets design makeover

April 2002 image of First London's Routemaster RML 2473 (JJD 473D), operating from Westbourne Park garage, as it made its approach to Ladbroke Grove Station en route to East Acton Station. The bus was withdrawn in 2005. Photo by Kotasik, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

LONDON (AP) – It’s the latest incarnation of a British icon: a lightweight, fuel-efficient double-decker bus expected to hit the streets of London in 2012.

Mayor Boris Johnson spent Thursday morning unveiling a life-size model of the new bus – one that conserves the curves and asymmetry of the original.

Double-decker buses have been a feature of the capital’s life since the 19th century, when the horse-drawn variety were praised by elder statesman William Gladstone as the “way to see London.”

The best-known model remains the curvy red Routemaster, which was retired from general service in 2005 after half a century of service.

Its replacements – boxy, modern double-deckers and giant articulated single-decker buses – kept the traditional color, but largely failed to gain Londoners’ affection.

The new model, due to enter service in 2012, brings back the round edges and charm of the much-missed Routemaster.

Johnson, who posed for pictures on the open platform at the back of a life-size model of the new bus at a transport museum in west London – said that being inside the new bus brought “a sense of nostalgia.”

The model unveiled Thursday is immobile – prototypes aren’t due for another year – and the bus’s look may still change. The new vehicle is being designed and built by Northern Ireland-based Wrights Group Ltd. and London-based Heatherwick Studio, whose recent projects include the U.K. Pavilion for the Shanghai 2010 Expo.

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Online:

Transport for London: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/

Wrights Group Ltd: http://www.wright-bus.com/

Heatherwick Studio: http://www.heatherwick.com/

AP-CS-11-11-10 0916EST

Researcher IDs artist who painted ‘The Old Plantantion’

The Old Plantation, a circa 1790-1800 watercolor in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, Va., that has now been identified as the work of 18th-century artist John Rose.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) – For 75 years, an unsigned watercolor known as The Old Plantation has ranked as the best-known and mostly widely reproduced image in the vast Colonial Williamsburg collection. But not until now has anyone known who created this rare, unusually sympathetic glimpse of 1700s Southern slave culture.

The secret was unearthed by a CW researcher following a trail re-opened in 2008 by the acquisition of a second watercolor also showing an African-American subject that came from the same hand.

Turning to a related lead that had lain dormant since the 1970s, Susan B. Shames made her way through a two-century-deep genealogical thicket to positively identify a deeply religious South Carolina planter and slaveholder named John Rose as the artist.

“The project quickly changed from wondering if identifying a previously unknown artist was possible, to delight over the discovery, to excitement that so much information about this important image and its maker could be extracted from the records,” Shames says.

“We found out more than any one of us expected.”

Acquired by folk art collector Abby Aldrich Rockefeller in 1935, the iconic image has long perplexed and delighted scholars, who have reproduced the mysterious yet invaluable document of slave music, dance and society countless times in textbooks and academic publications.

“It’s extremely rare and it’s been published so many times that we can’t keep track of it,” says Ronald Hurst, chief curator and vice president of collections, conservation and museums. “It’s literally on thousands of websites.”

Revisiting an old family story that had stymied previous investigators since coming to light in the 1970s, Shames initially identified nine possible candidates as the artist. As she narrowed that field, she used handwriting samples and the inscribed name of the slave woman depicted in the second watercolor to help move from an early 1900s inventory to earlier court records and a will that not only identified Rose but also described his painting.

Born in the early 1750s, he first appears in the public records in 1775 in South Carolina’s Beaufort District, where it’s likely he created The Old Plantation. He died in 1820, leaving it to a son-in-law.

“Susan has unlocked one of the great secrets of American art,” Hurst says. “Her diligence and dedication have revealed the career of an obscure 18th-century painter and the lives of the unnamed slaves depicted in an iconic image.”

Shames has recorded the story of her investigation and the details of Rose’s life in a new book published by Colonial Williamsburg.

Her long hunt for the artist’s identity also will be featured in a new exhibit, “The Old Plantation: The Artist Revealed,” which opens Feb. 19, 2011 at CW’s Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum.

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Information from: Daily Press, http://www.dailypress.com

AP-ES-11-10-10 2014EST

Pot o’ gold: Family’s old vase fetches $83 million in UK auction

Chinese vase, 16 inches tall and with a fish motif, that sold for $83 million on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010, at Bainbridges auction house in Ruislip, England. Image courtesy Bainbridges Auctioneers.

LONDON — A Chinese vase that sat, little-noticed, in a suburban London home has become one of the most expensive artworks ever sold, evidence that China’s sizzling art market shows no signs of cooling down.

The 18th-century porcelain vase, sold by a family clearing out a deceased relative’s house, went to a Chinese buyer for 51.6 million pounds ($83 million, inclusive of buyer’s premium) – more than 40 times the pre-sale estimate and a record for a Chinese work of art.

For Peter Bainbridge, a small independent auctioneer who specializes in house clearance sales, Thursday’s result was an extremely pleasant shock.

“How do you anticipate the Chinese market?” he said Friday. “It’s totally on fire.”

Bainbridge, whose 8.6 million pound buyer’s premium is included in the sale price, said the outcome was “a fairy tale” for the family who owned the vase.

He said the sellers, who wish to remain anonymous, are the sister and nephew of a deceased elderly woman clearing out her “very modest home” in the London suburb of Pinner.

The vase had been in the family at least since the 1930s, though they don’t know how it was acquired. Many Chinese artifacts surfaced in Britain in the 19th century, having been looted from Beijing’s Summer Palace when it was sacked by British and French troops at the end of the Second Opium War in 1860.

The vase was spotted as special by the auction house’s specialist valuer and given an estimate of up to 1.2 million pounds.

But on Thursday Bainbridge’s suburban sale room was “full to bursting,” and there was excitement in the air.

“There was a silence that wrapped itself around the sale as the figure grew slowly but surely up to the sky,” Bainbridge said.

“I’m an auctioneer, so at that point I’m just doing the professional job I’m paid to do. But once the hammer’s down you do take stock slightly and think, ‘Oh, wow, that’s really rather a lot of money.'”

The vase, bought by a Chinese bidder on behalf of an undisclosed buyer, is the most expensive Chinese artwork ever sold, beating a Song Dynasty scroll that sold for almost $64 million in Beijing in June.

Experts say it is an exceptional piece, made for the personal enjoyment of Qing dynasty Emperor Qianlong, at a time when Chinese porcelain-making had reached a zenith. The 16-inch (40-centimeter) vase in imperial yellow features a delicate double-walled construction and is adorned with medallions depicting leaping goldfish.

Prices for Chinese art and antiquities are buoyant, and more record prices are sure to follow.

Art markets in the West are still feeling the effects of the economic downturn. Masterpieces set records – often acquired by Russian, Middle Eastern or Asian collectors – while mid-range works languish unsold.

“It’s like a creme brulee: hard at the top and a bit soft underneath,” said Robert Read, a fine art expert at specialist insurer Hiscox.

In contrast, China’s booming economy means new collectors are joining the market all the time, and wealthy buyers are keen to repatriate treasures from their heritage.

“There’s definitely a shift in the balance of power,” said Read. “Things are going east these days.

“That’s where the future is, and that’s where the big collectors are going to be over the next 20 years.”

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Online:

Bainbridge Auctions: www.bainbridgesauctions.co.uk

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Closeup of fish motif. Image courtesy Bainbridges Auctioneers.

Base of vase. Image courtesy Bainbridges Auctioneers.

Mexico uses robot to explore ancient tunnel

An architectural detail found on the Quetzalcoatl Pyramid on the Ciudadella, now displayed at the Teotihuacan Museum. Image by Fjhuerta, courtesy the photographer and Wikimedia Commons.

TEOTIHUACAN, Mexico (AP) – The first robotic exploration of a pre-Hispanic ruin in Mexico has revealed that a 2,000-year-old tunnel under a temple at the famed Teotihuacan ruins has a perfectly carved arch roof and appears stable enough to enter, archaeologists announced Wednesday.

Archaeologists lowered the remote-controlled, camera-equipped vehicle into the 12-foot-wide (4-meter) corridor and sent wheeling through it to see if it was safe for researchers to enter. The one-foot (30-cm) wide robot was called “Tlaloque 1” after the Aztec rain god.

The grainy footage shot by the robot was presented Wednesday by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. It shows a narrow, open space left after the tunnel was intentionally closed off between A.D. 200 and 250 and filled with debris nearly to the roof.

Archaeologist Sergio Gomez says the footage showed the arched-roof tunnel was an example of sophisticated work by the ancient inhabitants of Teotihuacan, which is located just north of modern Mexico City.

“All of the passage, more than 100 meters (yards) long was excavated in the rock perfectly, and in some places you can even see the marks of the tools the people of Teotihuacan used to make it,” said Gomez.

Well-worked blocks and a smoothly-arched ceiling showed the tunnel was not natural, but rather a man-made structure that researchers believe lead to possible burial chambers.

Researchers hope to clear the debris blocking the tunnel’s mouth and enter passageway by late November or early December.

Robots have been used before in Egypt. In 2002, a robotic vehicle was used to discover a hidden door and chamber in the Great Pyramid built by the pharaoh Khufu more than 4,000 years ago.

But the INAH, as Mexico’s archaeology agency is known, said it appeared to be the first robotic exploration in Mexico and probably in the Americas.

After excavating a vertical shaft that leads to the tunnel entrance, the mouth of the passageway was discovered in July. Ground-penetrating scanner images showed that the passageway lies 40 feet (12 meters) below the surface, and runs beneath the Temple of Quetzacoatl, in the central ceremonial area of the ruins.

The scanner images appear to show chambers that branch off the tunnel and archaeologists think they may hold the tombs of some of the ancient city’s early rulers.

Experts say a tomb discovery would be significant because the social structure of Teotihuacan remains a mystery after nearly 100 years of archaeological exploration at the site, which is best known for the towering Pyramids of the Moon and the Sun.

No depiction of a ruler, or the tomb of a monarch, has ever been found, setting the metropolis apart from other pre-Hispanic cultures that deified their rulers.

Vertical excavations begun in 2009 to reach the mouth of the tunnel suggest it was a ruler’s tomb, Gomez said. Rich offerings were tossed into the tunnel at the moment it was closed up, including almost 50,000 objects of jade, stone, shell and pottery, including ceramic beakers of a kind never found before at the site.

The complex of pyramids, plazas, temples and avenues was once the center of a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants and may have been the largest and most influential city in pre-Hispanic North America at the time.

But nearly 2,500 years after the city was founded _ and about 2,100 years after the Teotihuacan culture began to flourish there – the identity of its rulers remains a mystery. The city was abandoned by the time the Aztecs arrived in the area in the 1300s and gave it the name “Teotihuacan,” which means “the place where men become gods.”

AP-CS-11-10-10 1914EST

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

View of the Avenue of the Dead and the Pyramid of the Sun, as observed from the Pyramid of the Moon, Teotihuacan. May 2006 photo by Jackhynes, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Stone mask from Teorihuacan, Mexico, Classical Period (3rd-7th Century A.D.). Formerly in the collecitons of Diego Rivera and Andre Breton, currently in the collection of the Louvre Museum, Pavillion des Sessions. Image by Jastrow, 2006.

Bid & Hammer presents sale of Significant Indian Paintings, Nov. 30.

Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906), ‘Portrait of Maharaja Serfoji II of Tanjore,’ signed lower right, 42 3/4 inches x 32 1/2 inches. Estimate: $380,400-$395,500. Image courtesy of Bid & Hammer.

BANGALORE, India – Bid & Hammer, the renowned Bangalore-based Auction House, is returning with yet another exceptional path-breaking auction – Significant Indian Paintings’ Sale 0007. The auction will be Wednesday, Nov. 30, at the ITC Sheraton Hotel in New Delhi. A three-day preview will be at the Russian Science & Cultural Centre, New Delhi, Nov. 25-27 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.

In view of this occasion, Maher Dadha, chairman and managing director of Bid & Hammer Auction House said, “After the fantastic response to our previous two auctions held in March and August 2010 in Bangalore, I am delighted to present Bid & Hammer’s Sale 0007, pertinently titled ‘Significant Indian Paintings,’ as it reflects our ongoing endeavor to bring forth works of the unsung heroes of modern Indian art during its germination period.

“As a full-fledged auction house that looks at art beyond the realm of just Indian contemporary paintings and drawings, we are conducting an auction of paintings after a deliberately prolonged lull and this, because in our opinion the market for Indian paintings is just about coming to terms with the burst in the pricing bubble that has engulfed it for a while now,” said Dadha. “On a more positive and also realistic note, challenges such as these are the ones that excite us and motivate us as we continue to strive and offer significant and quality works at the most competitive estimates.”

Apart from the signature style works by eminent artists like Raja Ravi Varma, F.N. Souza and Jamini Roy, this auction brings forth some unusual works of lesser-known phases by these artists. These are the Tanjore-style portraiture of Maharaja Serfoji II embellished with gomedhaks by Raja Ravi Varma; F.N. Souza’s graphic tribute to Rabindranath and Jamini Roy’s female nude on canvas from his early explorations with Post-Impressionist mannerisms. Of the signature-style renditions special mention is deserved for Ravi Varma’s Ravana abducting Sita– a study for the final work and Souza’s Crucifixion depicting Mary Magdelene alongside the slain Christ.

Among the other noteworthy artists being featured are philosopher and indologist Nicholas Roerich, Noble laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Bengal School pioneers Abanindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose, among others, A.R.Chughtai, Hemendranath Mazumdar, B.C. Law, Allah Bux, A.H. Muller, K.K. Hebbar, Shivax Chavda, S.H. Raza, K.S. Kulkarni and Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh, to name a few. For the first time in India, artist Pranay Ranjan Roy’s work is being showcased after a successful representation in international auctions.

Dadha said that Bid & Hammer looks at art beyond the realm of Indian contemporary art. This explains their resurgence after a deliberately prolonged lull that observed the market for Indian paintings coming to terms with the burst of the pricing bubble that had engulfed it for a while.

Taking it up as a challenging motivation, the auction house offers significant works at the most competitive estimates. Realizing the fact that the artists and their works deserve higher estimates, the auctioneers hope for the bidders to have the final say, as they believe it to be the very purpose of an open market auction mechanism.

Out of a total lot size of 84 works there are 69 paintings, which in turn comprise of three works by Raja Ravi Varma, two by Nicholas Roerich and eight works by Souza among others. In association with American Express Banking Corp. and further enabled by online bidding through the interface of Liveauctioneers.com, Bid & Hammer, hopes to make this auction an event of historical enormity and grand success, said Dadha.

Aficionados and patrons based in Bangalore can preview the items by appointment on Nov. 15 and can participate in the auction either through absentee, telephone or live online bidding if they are unable to travel to Delhi.

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

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