January 2011 - Page 2 of 13 - Auction Central News

‘Emperor’s Private Paradise’ on display at New York museum

Table screen, from Cuishanglou, zitan wood, glass, silver foil, and paint. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

“When China’s last emperor, Puyi, left the Forbidden City in 1924, the doors closed on a secluded compound of pavilions and gardens deep within the palace. Filled with exquisite objects personally commissioned by the Qianlong emperor, the complex of lavish buildings and thoughtful landscaping lay dormant for decades.”

– From Juanqinzhai in the Qianlong Garden, The Forbidden City, Beijing

NEW YORK – A special exhibition featuring 90 exquisite objects that once adorned an exclusive compound in the Forbidden City will go on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning Feb. 1.

Showcasing sumptuous murals, furniture, architectural elements, Buddhist icons, and decorative arts—almost all of which have never before been seen publicly— The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City will present works of art that demonstrate the highest levels of artistic accomplishment in 18th-century China. Highlights of the exhibition will include an imposing portrait of the Qianlong Emperor, a radiant silk panel depicting a Buddhist shrine, magnificent thrones executed with impeccable craftsmanship, and a monumental jade-and-lacquer screen consisting of 16 panels.

Augmenting the objects will be photo murals of the Qianlong Garden as well as a video-simulated “walk-through” of the Studio of Exhaustion from Diligent Service (Juanqinzhai), the first building to be fully restored there.

The exhibition was organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in partnership with the Palace Museum and in cooperation with World Monuments Fund and has been made possible through generous support from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and American Express. Additional support was provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, The Freeman Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and ECHO (Education through Cultural & Historical Organizations).

The Qianlong emperor (pronounced “chien-lung”) was the fourth monarch of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) who reigned from 1736 to 1795. Built between 1771 and 1776, the Qianlong Garden was for the emperor’s intended retirement and no expense was spared, as the finest artisans used the highest quality materials to create intricately embellished interior and exterior spaces. But the emperor never retired and the garden—relatively untouched since imperial times—remains a virtual time capsule of 18th-century taste at its most extravagant.

Through the richly varied works on view, the exhibition conveys his desire both to integrate art, culture and nature, and to magnify his achievements as a connoisseur, scholar and devout Buddhist. In contrast to preceding Qing emperors, who had emphasized simple interiors in keeping with their nomadic Manchu heritage, the interiors of the Qianlong’s retirement residence were lavish and ornate in the extreme. For the Qianlong Emperor, the garden was a metaphor for his well-ordered realm. The Manchu ruler’s ambition to unify “all under heaven” is evident in his effort to make the garden a microcosm of his empire, integrating various cultural influences within the confines of his palace walls.

Installed in the Metropolitan’s Galleries for Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, which surround a Ming-style garden court and a hall with outstanding examples of Chinese hardwood furniture, the exhibition will lead viewers through a series of thematic galleries, much as the actual garden was intended to lead visitors through a series of courtyards. These courtyards contained evocatively named halls and pavilions devoted to discrete themes, such as theatrical performances and trompe l’oeil illusions, Buddhist worship or meditation, the “three friends” of wintry weather (pine, plum and bamboo), and exotic foreign environments and furnishings. Nearly every space featured a throne—each different in its design and materials—as demonstrated through the several examples in the exhibition.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a variety of educational programs will be offered, including an all-day, Museum-wide celebration of Chinese Lunar New Year on Feb. 5, and a Sunday at the Met lecture program on Feb. 6, a subscription event with Amy Tan, films about the Forbidden City, and gallery talks.

Complementing The Emperor’s Private Paradise will be two installations drawn from the Metropolitan’s holdings of Qing court art. Extravagant Display: Chinese Art in the 18th and 19th Centuries—a rich selection of theatrical costumes, lacquers, ivories, jades, porcelains, metalwork, and other media largely created for use within the imperial precincts—will be presented in the Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries for Chinese Decorative Arts (through May 1). Also, imperially commissioned paintings and calligraphies from the Qianlong era will be on display in an installation in The Frances Young Tang Gallery.

After its showing at the Metropolitan, The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City will travel to Milwaukee Art Museum (June 11-Sept. 11).

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

One of a pair of cabinets, from Yucuixuan, wood, lacquer and gilding. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Chair, from Xishangting, rootwood. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

One of a pair of court fans, from Yanghe Jingshe, wood, brass, and paint, 38 3/4 inches x 25 1/4 inches; pole 70 inches long. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Panel, from Juanqinzhai, sandalwood, jade, lapis lazuli, malachite, zitan and glass. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Panel with niches, from Cuishanglou, zitan, painted and gilt clay and colors on silk. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Ancient statues devastated in bombing on exhibit in Berlin

Restorers at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin have pieced together the 3,000-year-old statues that were nearly destroyed in World War II. © Raimond Spekking / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0 This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

BERLIN (AP) – Berlin’s Pergamon Museum is putting on show a collection of statues unearthed a century ago in present-day Syria that have been painstakingly put back together after their near-destruction during World War II.

The roughly 3,000-year old statues have been pieced together over the past decade from fragments left behind when Berlin’s Tell Halaf Museum was bombed in 1943.

The exhibit, The Tell Halaf Adventure, opened Thursday.

The statues were excavated in 1911 to 1913 by German archaeologist Max von Oppenheim and first went on display in Berlin in 1930.

After the wartime bombing, the rubble was salvaged and stored for decades in the Pergamon Museum’s cellars. Restorers sifted through some 27,000 fragments to restore the sculptures.

AP-CS-01-27-11 0345EST

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

http://acn.liveauctioneers.com/administrator/index.php?option=com_media&view=images&tmpl=component&e_name=text

Morton Kuehnert to debut Designer Jewelry & Coin Auction Jan. 30

HOUSTON – Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers launches its new Jewelry & Coin Auction on Sunday, Jan. 30, at 1 p.m. local time, with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com. The auctions features 100 lots of items from fine family estates.

Four attention-grabbing men’s Rolex watches, including two Super Presidents, (Estimates: $22,000-$28,000 and $22,000-$26,000), a GMT-Master (Estimates: $19,000-$26,000) and a Submariner (Estimate: $19,000-$22,000) will be on the auction block. A highly collectible Franck Muller Conquistador 8005C stainless steel small men/ladies watch (Estimate: $4,500-$7,000) is also available.

Men’s bracelets and neckchains include an Italian Figarope neck chain with a $20 dollar gold piece with diamonds (Estimate: $5,000-$7,000), and sold in a separate lot a Figarope chain bracelet (Estimate: $1,300-$2,000); two lots of men’s 18K diamond “Rolex” diamond rings ($2,700-$3,200 and $1,300-$2,000), and a man’s white gold diamond star sapphire ring (Estimate: $1,300-2,000) are especially appealing to men who like bling.

Beautiful ladies jewelry, sure to be a hit on Valentine’s Day, is abundant on auction day. A sample includes an exquisite 18K white gold sapphire and diamond choker necklace with 40 sapphires and 200 diamonds (Estimate: $4,000-$8,000), a 14K princess-cut diamond necklace with 175 diamonds weighing in at 10 Ct ($2,500-$3,500) and a black star sapphire and diamond ring (Estimate: $700-$1,200). Three ladies President Rolex watches will also be auctioned. (Estimates: $9,000-$13,000; $6,000-$9,000; $6,000-$8,000). A pair of David Webb 18K gold earrings will be the perfect Valentine surprise, with an estimate of $400-$700.

Rare Peace Silver Dollars in complete Whitman and Dansco vooks (with estimates ranging from $1,100 to $1,600, per book) and rare Morgan Silver Dollars in complete Whitman and Harco books, (with estimates ranging from $1,800 per book to $6,500 per book) will appeal to the serious collector. Also available will be lots including 1985-2002 China Panda five coin sets, (Estimates $2,750-$3,250), 1987 99.9 California Gold Rarities Mint (Estimate: $2,750-$3,000), UK L5 Brilliant Uncirculated Gold Coins (Estimate $2,500-$2,750), a one-ounce Platinum Eagle (Estimate $2,250-$2,500), and miscellaneous replica coins in silver.

Unusual pieces include a vintage 9K gold cigarette case by Garrard & Co. (Estimate: $2,750-$4,000), a 14K gold cigar/cigarette case (Estimate $2,750-4,200), one lot of three sterling cigarette cases ($750-$900); a link neckchain featuring a Mezuzah, Star of David and Chai ($750-$900) and a 14K yellow gold pendant of Moses and the 10 Commandments tablets on a 19-inch chain (Estimate: $1,000-$1,200)

For more information on any lot in this sale, contact David Baker, at 713-827-7835 or email dbaker@mortonkuehnert.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

Yellow gold ladies President Rolex. Morton Kuehnert image.

Rare vintage gentleman’s gold Rolex. Morton Kuehnert image.

Black star sapphire ring. Morton Kuehnert image.

California Gold Rarities Mint. Morton Kuehnert image.

Sapphire and diamond choker. Morton Kuehnert image.

$4.6M Eskimo masks highlight of Winter Antiques Show

Surrealist painter Enrico Donati once owned this Yup'ik Eskimo mask. Donald Ellis Gallery Ltd. sold it and another like it for a record $4.6 million at the Winter Antiques Show. Image courtesy of Winter Antiques Show.

NEW YORK (AP) – The design for the ceremonial Eskimo mask comes from a shaman’s dream. Fantastical, with a wide grin of pointed teeth and a halo of feathers, it is a highly expressive piece of Native American art – and had been tucked away in a private collection, unseen by the public for a half-century. Until now.

The mask, and another like it, once belonged to Surrealist painter Enrico Donati, and were sold for a combined $4.6 million at the Winter Antiques Show this month. Donald Ellis, owner of the gallery that offered them for sale, said it was a record price for Native American art.

The two masks, more than a century old, were among the most important items on display at the show, one of the country’s premiere antiques events. Seventy-five dealers are at the annual bazaar, which runs through Jan. 30. Wealthy New Yorkers tend to be the main clientele, and museum curators peruse works both well-known and obscure.

The Donati masks were created by Yup’ik Eskimos in Alaska for use in winter ceremonies, based on ideas envisioned in dreams by their holy men.

Donati and his contemporaries felt the masks were more surreal than the Surrealists, Ellis said.

The Eskimo masks were created to appease the gods and prevent starvation. “They were functioning things, but these artists made them extraordinary, though they weren’t seen as art until later,” said Ellis, the dealer.

The masks were sold – likely for food – to a trader along the Kuskokwim River in Alaska at the turn of the 20th century. Donati bought them in 1945. They influenced his work so much that they will be part of an exhibit of works by Surrealists called The Colour of My Dreams: Surrealism and Revolution in Art at the Vancouver Art Gallery this spring.

Some pieces at this year’s show came from private collections in living rooms. Others were hidden in attics and some were covered in grime.

One, a painting of two boys in turn-of-the-century New York City, was the work of a well-known artist, misidentified.

The painting, titled The Dead-fall, is by Martin Johnson Heade, an artist known for landscapes and images of orchids and hummingbirds. It depicts two boys in a forest clearing setting a trap for an animal. The clearing was smack in downtown New York, in an area that later was torn up to make room for the World Trade Center.

But the painting wasn’t signed, and was thought to be the work of William Sidney Mount, a contemporary of Heade’s. It had not been shown publicly since 1844, adding to its mystery.

The Alexander Gallery bought the work when it came up for sale recently and started to wonder about its origin. Gallery representative Laurel Acevedo said they did extensive research – and it was the way a tree stump was painted that eventually tipped scholars off that the painting was Heade’s.

The gallery is offering the work for $2 million, and says it would be good for a museum.

“It’s thrilling, to go through the whole history and to figure out what you have,” Acevedo said.

Kim Hostler of Hostler Burrows gallery was offering for $48,000 a cabinet by Josef Frank, found in near-perfect condition complete with delightful images of herbs that Frank found in magazines and lacquered on.

“We feel a little like explorers and archeologists when we look for new pieces,” she said. “And we’re giddy when we find pieces in this shape.”

Other works need a little TLC, like a bust of sculptor Antonio Canova found by Daniel Katz Ltd. covered in grime. Only plasters of the sculpture were ever displayed; it turns out the real thing was kept by the artist himself, Antonio D’Este, a friend and studio assistant of Canova. The white marble bust stayed in his family for years.

While Canova’s self-portraits tend to make him resemble a Greek god, this bust shows him as a man, with furrowed brow and longish hair.

“It’s a much more honest image of the man himself,” said Stuart Lochhead of Daniel Katz, which is offering the bust for $510,000.

Dealers may wait decades for a booth at the Winter Antiques Show, which benefits the East Side House Settlement, a nonprofit that offers social services and educational programs in the South Bronx. They view it as a prime chance to show off their best and most fabulous pieces.

For first-time participant Carlton Rochell, that meant a massive sandstone carving of Buddha, his legs in a lotus position, that dates to the second century in India. The carving is among surviving images of Buddha depicted as a man, and is on sale for $4 million.

Portraits of willowy, pale women by Thomas Wilmer Dewing in their original frames had hung in a room dedicated to the artist at a fancy estate in Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie – and stayed there for years. Alice Levi Duncan of Gerald Peters Gallery came across them recently, and is selling them in New York as separates ranging in price from $1.8 million and down.

“Can you imagine, going into this room – perhaps it’s never even used – and there is this entire collection of paintings? It’s amazing,” Duncan said.

AP-WS-01-26-11 1301EST

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

For his first appearance at the Winter Antiques show Carlton Rochell brought this massive sandstone Buddha figure, India, Kushan Dynasty, circa first century. Image courtesy of Winter Antiques Show.

Kim Hostler of Hostler Burrows gallery offered this circa 1940 Josef Frank flora cabinet made of mahogany with a birch interior. Image courtesy of Winter Antiques Show.

Historian denies tampering with ‘last’ Lincoln pardon

McLEAN, Va. (AP) – Colleagues of a historian accused of altering a presidential pardon signed by Abraham Lincoln to make it appear he had made a major discovery say he betrayed the trust that had been placed in him.

The accused historian – Thomas P. Lowry, 78, of Virginia – denied Tuesday that he actually tampered with the document despite a written confession he gave to the National Archives earlier this month.

The National Archives announced on Monday that Lowry used a fountain pen with special ink to change the date on a presidential pardon issued by Lincoln to a Union army deserter from April 14, 1864, to April 14, 1865. The date change made it look like the pardon was the last official act carried out by Lincoln before he was shot that night at Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Lowry recanted his confession and said he offered repeated denials to Archives investigators over the course of a two-hour interview but eventually wore down when they refused to believe him.

“I foolishly signed a statement saying I had done it,” Lowry said. “Now they’re portraying me as a fool, a liar and a criminal. I screwed myself by signing it.”

But the inspector general’s office for the Archives says that not only did Lowry willingly confess, he offered up details about how he did it with a fountain pen and special ink.

“He voluntarily provided a statement, written in his own hand, in which he elaborated on his actions and provided specific details on how he committed this act,” said Ross Weiland, the Archives’ assistant inspector general for investigations. “He subsequently swore to the statement’s accuracy and signed the statement. No threats, rewards or promises of any kind were made to Mr. Lowry in return for his sworn statement.”

Archives officials say Lowry admitted he did it to boost his career. Lowry said Tuesday it doesn’t make sense that he would have altered the document to gain notoriety.

“I’m hardly famous and certainly not rich,” Lowry said.

But Archives officials say Lowry’s purported discovery did vault him into prominence in the world of Abraham Lincoln historians when he announced his findings back in 1998. The Archives itself praised Lowry’s work at the time as “a unique and substantial contribution to Lincoln research and to the study of the Civil War.”

Ted Savas, who published a 1999 book authored by Lowry called Don’t Shoot That Boy! Abraham Lincoln and Military Justice that referred to the falsified pardon, said Lowry was well-respected and he had no reason to believe that Lowry might be falsifying information.

“He was a really meticulous, careful researcher and a good writer,” Savas said. “But if you’re going to hand a publisher something you know is false – that’s a betrayal.”

Trevor Plante, the Archives employee who first became suspicious about the document because the altered ‘5’ appeared darker than the other writing, called it “very galling and upsetting to me as a trained historian that someone would change a document to make it more historically significant than it actually is.”

Savas said he can’t help but wonder now whether Lowry may have falsified other information in that book or in any of his dozen or so books, some of which were self-published. Many dealt with unusual topics including Civil War bawdy houses and sexual misconduct by Civil War soldiers.

Most recently, Lowry collaborated with Terry Reimer, research director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Maryland, on a book published last week: Bad Doctors: Military Justice Proceedings Against 622 Civil War Surgeons.

Reimer said Tuesday that her collaboration with Lowry ended with that book and that Lowry has no official connection to the museum.

Reimer declined to comment on the allegation against Lowry, citing the continuing investigation.

AP-CS-01-25-11 1752EST

North Korean defector progresses from propaganda to art exhibit in Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – The face in the painting is North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s, smiling beneath his trademark sunglasses and wall of black hair. But the body is Marilyn Monroe’s, pushing down her white dress in an updraft.

This striking image, part of an art exhibition by North Korean defector Song Byeok opening Wednesday in Seoul, would have been unthinkable at the artist’s old job making propaganda posters in the North with slogans like “Let us Exalt the Great Leader.”

Satirical paintings would have gotten everyone in his family “taken somewhere nobody knows about and forced to work until death,” Song said during an interview at his small workspace in an arcade on the outskirts of Seoul.

“Freedom of speech has nothing to do with North Korea,”Song said. “Here in South Korea, people can draw what they want. So every painting reflects the artist’s distinctive personality.”

While still in North Korea, Song saw his father swept away by a current during an abortive attempt to swim a river to China to get food. He said he was later beaten senseless by North Korean border guards and spent six months in labor camp. He defected soon after, in 2002.

Song said he got the idea to draw a satirical painting of Kim Jong Il when he saw Monroe’s iconic pose from the movie The Seven Year Itch. He said Monroe’s attempt to hide what’s below her dress reminded him of what Kim has done to conceal the truth of what’s happening in North Korea.

“It is time to reform and open North Korea, so that poor North Koreans can see what the real world is,” he said.

Song said the art he has made in his new homeland is meant to “show what is inside of North Korea.”

Life is often hard for North Korean defectors in the South. They report difficulty adjusting to their new lives in one of Asia’s richest countries and say they are discriminated against at their jobs and aren’t paid fairly.

Though he has won several awards for his art in South Korea, Song also has struggled. He said he often eats instant noodles to save cash and hasn’t paid rent for his workroom in five months. To afford material for his sculptures and paintings, Song has worked part-time washing dishes and for moving and construction companies.

But money isn’t the goal, he said. “It is much more meaningful to deliver my message through paintings than to earn money.”

The freedom to pursue his art is an important theme for Song, and, at the age of 42, he is still studying painting.

He tells of being shocked in 2003 when he saw a woman in a college class wearing ripped blue jeans, something he had been told by North Korean propaganda was an example of the South’s extreme poverty. The next day, he approached the woman and gave her a needle and thread to mend her pants, not knowing they were an intentional fashion statement.

Although he used to regard his work for Kim Jong Il’s propaganda machine as an “infinite honor,” meant to glorify the man he was taught to revere, he now refuses to label his propaganda posters as art. He merely reproduced pictures he was ordered to work on. “People in the paintings had to seem happy. If not, they would not be published publicly,” Song said.

In the North, he was always “aware of the possibility of danger.” Entire families would disappear if someone “touched on any negative aspects of the ruling party.”

One day in 2000, he and his father tried to swim across the Tumen River in to China to get rice to help feed their hungry family, Song said.

The river was swollen from heavy rain, and his father was swept away. Song ran to get help from the border guards, but they only shouted “Why didn’t you die with him?” before beating him unconscious. He spent six months in a forced labor camp, where he lost part of a finger from an infection and began thinking about defecting, inspired by stories about life in the South.

In Song’s exhibition brochure, the dean of Hongik University’s fine arts graduate school, Han Jin-Man, writes that Song has used his art “to become free from a nightmare that keeps repeating every night.”

“He is paying off an old score in his inner world by expressing” his life in North Korea through humor, Han writes. “He could not live without expressing the trouble of youth directly in his works.”

AP-CS-01-26-11 0445EST

Queen Elizabeth I among big names in Clars’ ‘Super’ auction Feb. 6

This Chinese coral figural carving of a celestial maiden and children will be among the many highlights of the Asian category at Clars’ February auction. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Super Bowl Sunday holds a bit of magic in Clars’ history, and expectations for this year’s Super Bowl Sunday at Clars are anticipated to carry on this tradition. It was their February 2007 sale when, in the heat of the third quarter, Clars sold the “mysterious” old master painting for $620,000. This year, on Sunday, Feb. 6, millions of eyes might be on Cowboys Stadium, but serious art and antiques collectors will have at least one eye on Clars Auction house, watching, bidding and buying some of the most important works to come to market in a very long time.

LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.

A look at the fine art to be offered reveals an extensive and impressive list of works by American and international artists. Among the numerous highlights in this category is an unframed oil on paper laid on artist’s mount by Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879-1940). Entitled Landhaus im Norden, 1925, this work is estimated to achieve $400,000 to $600,000. From Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (Filipino, 1892-1972) will be his framed oil on canvas entitled Under the Mango Tree estimated to $35,000 to $45,000, and a framed color pencil on paper entitled Tete de Profil by Amedeo Modigliani (Italian, 1884-1920) will draw international bidding. Its estimate is $80,000 to $120,000.

Turning to American works, a beautifully executed oil on canvas by William Keith (California, 1838-1911) entitled View of San Anslemo Valley with Mount Tam is expected to earn $30,000 to $50,000. This work was purchased directly from Keith and comes to auction through family descent. Vaughn Flannery (American, 1898-1955) will be represented with his framed oil on canvas entitles Heaton Park Races, 1944. One of four to be offered, this work is estimated at $30,000 to $50,000. An important work by Milton Avery (America, 1885-1965) entitled Afternoon Landscape will also draw national attention. It has an $80,000 to $120,000 estimate.

Fine art comes in many forms and Edward H. Bohlin was truly the master of art in leather and sterling. His saddles are revered worldwide, and Clars is very pleased to offer a circa 1940 Bohlin saddle with extensive sterling mounts. It is expected to bring $15,000 to $20,000.

This auction will feature a number of offerings of particular historic significance. First is a rare and important document from the “Golden Age of England — the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.” Coming to the auction with an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000 will be a framed indenture from Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) dated 1563 and with the Royal Great Seal. The indenture states the terms of a loan Queen Elizabeth I is taking out through her financier Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579). The indenture is signed on the reverse by the privy council, Robert Dudley (1532-1588), Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Sir William Cecil (1520-1598), Sir Nicholas Bacon (1510-1579), William Howard of Effingham (1510-1573) and Sir Francis Knollys (1514-1596). It was in 1563, the same year as this signed indenture, that Elizabeth I moved the Royal Court to Windsor Castle to avoid the bubonic plague. Clars is honored to be able to represent this piece on behalf of a major San Francisco Area estate and anticipates brisk international bidding on this historic document.

Also of historic importance is a presentation bronze medal inscribed to the captain, officers and crew of the RMS Carpathia in recognition of services from the survivors of the Titanic, April 15, 1912. Estimated at $2,000 to $4,000, this piece comes from the Marcollo Collection. Also from this collection will be a selection of period steam ship lithographs.

Another collection of historic documents will be offered including a signed Abraham Lincoln appointment dated 1861, a letter signed by Teddy Roosevelt and another signed by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Important book offerings will also be a highlight of this sale. First is a collection of prints in two volumes from the rare book Pictures for the Purpose of Illustrating the Dramatic Works of Shakespeare by the Artists of Great Britain, published in London by John Josiah Boydell, 1803 followed by a first edition of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Published in 1939, this lot also includes the first state dust jacket.

Among the important antique furnishings to be offered will be a German Black Forest hall tree estimated to earn $4,000 to $6,000. Fine furniture will include an American Eastlake walnut secretary bookcase, circa 1880, and a Continental Renaissance-style marble-top sideboard, circa 1870. The Arts and Crafts Movement will be represented with a large selection of tile-top tables and classic style wood pieces.

Classic car aficionados will have the opportunity to bid and buy a wonderful 1940 Packard 120 sedan, which expected to earn $30,000 to $40,000, and antique gun collectors will be interested in a William Golcher .52-caliber rifle, circa 1850, made by Golcher himself at the age of 17. The rifle is engraved with an American eagle at the charred maple stock and the barrel is marked “James Golcher Maker Philadelphia.” This rifle is estimated at $20,000 to $30,000.

Decorative arts will include a framed Berlin porcelain hand-painted plaque signed “J.X. Tallmaier Munchen” and a Daum Nancy table lamp with hand-wrought mounts. On a larger scale will be a selection of American carousel animals including a Carmel “jumper” horse, and a Herschell Spillman zebra. Two music boxes will be offered. The first is a Regina player with 23 discs, the second an M.J. Paillard interchangeable cylinder music box, circa 1879 complete with two extra cased cylinders and an original play list.

Clars is traditionally strong in fine Asian antiques and art. In their February sale, they will be offering a pair of large Southeast Asian patinated bronzes chinthe/leogryph, circa 19th century. Also to be offered is a Chinese coral figural carving of a celestial maiden and children and a selection of Chinese scholar’s objects.

Sterling offerings will be exceptional at this sale including a Wallace sterling silver flatware service in the Sappho pattern, and another extensive Wallace flatware service in the Violet pattern estimated at $10,000 to $15,000. A Georgian cruet set, circa 1740, by Samuel Woods will be offered and a Rebecca Eames and Edward Barnard I, London 1847 four-piece tea service is estimated at $4,000 to $6,000.

And, as always, jewelry offerings will be spectacular. A diamond solitaire pendant and neck chain set in platinum is set with a 10.09 carats (GIA, L color, VS2 clarity) pear-cut diamond and a stunning diamond solitaire ring set in platinum sports a 3.25-carat round brilliant cut diamond.

The sale will be held Saturday, Feb. 5, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Pacific and Sunday, Feb. 6, at 10 a.m. Previews will be Friday, Feb. 4, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 9 a.m. each auction day and by special appointment.

Bidding for this sale is available in person, by phone, absentee and live online at www.clars.com and through www.liveauctioneers.com.

Clars Auction Gallery is located at 5644 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609.

For details e-mail: info@clars.com or call 888-339-7600.

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

‘Landhaus im Norden’ by Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879-1940). is estimated to achieve $400,000 to $600,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

This beautifully executed oil on canvas by William Keith (California, 1838-1911) entitled ‘View of San Anslemo Valley with Mount Tam’ is expected to earn $30,000 to $50,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

This fine circa 1940 Bohlin saddle with extensive sterling mounts is expected to earn $15,000 to $20,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

Dated 1563, this historic signed indenture by Queen Elizabeth I is estimated to achieve $30,000 to $50,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

Revered pipe organ maker brings mystique back to church music

The Tabernacle Christian Church in Franklin, Ind., has a 1997 Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organ with three manuals, or keyboards, and 26 sets of pipes, called ranks. Image courtesy of Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organ Co.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) –Later this year, someone at a church in Charlotte, N.C., will press the keys on a brand-new pipe organ, and a rich sound will fill the room.

That moment is on the minds of everyone at Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organs. The instrument is taking shape in the main assembly room of the operation in the Harrison West neighborhood in Columbus. In that two-story space, every detail will come together before the components are disassembled and delivered to their ultimate home.

The 20 or so employees do a special kind of manufacturing, in which a few projects take up an entire year and the workers are artisans as much as they are laborers.

The company’s work can be seen in eight states, including new or restored organs at several churches in central Ohio and at the Ohio Theatre in downtown Columbus.

“We’re an arts organization trying to make money,” said Philip D. Minnick, president and co-founder.

Seated in a second-floor conference room, Minnick and fellow co-founder Robert W. Bunn Jr. explained how this so-called king of instruments produces sound. The tones come from the push of air through the pipes, controlled by pressing keys on the console. In ancient times, the air pressure often came from bellows. Today, an electric motor does the work.

Prices can range from about $50,000 for a small reconditioned organ to more than $1 million for a large new one, Minnick said. A typical new organ ranges from $250,000 to $450,000.

Bunn=Minnick began in 1969 with a small commission from a church. The initial work took place in Bunn’s basement. Together, the two men gathered about $1,000 to get started, they said.

Minnick was a classically trained organist, and Bunn was a repairman who had taken an interest in the mechanics of pipe organs. They met while working at A.W. Brandt Co., the largest organ company in Columbus at the time.

The new venture was a part-time job, Minnick said. After a few years, though, both men had quit their day jobs and bought a building at First and Harrison avenues.

Bunn holds the title of vice president. A third co-owner, Leo J. Klise Jr., joined the business in the mid-1980s and handles much of the financial management.

Since 1992, Bunn=Minnick has been housed on Michigan Avenue in a three-story brick building. The space was once the headquarters of a company that makes oil derricks, but had been abandoned and required redevelopment inside and out.

Today, employees look out the windows at new condominium complexes and businesses.

Bunn=Minnick’s building is large enough that the company can produce almost every part in-house and keep a supply of used parts.

Nearly the entire basement is devoted to woodworking. The third floor has several rooms for pipemaking, with a casting area where employees melt metals and shape the mixture into cylinders. And there’s a “voicing room” where the pipes are adjusted to meet precise tonal qualities.

Front-office functions are on the ground floor, which is also the domain of Elsa, a gray terrier mix who saunters from room to room.

The co-founders’ lives are intertwined with the business to a point that there is little separation. Both live nearby and spend much of their spare time at the office.

Bunn, 71, has an almost perpetual smile and looks much younger than his age. He keeps a workshop on the third floor, where he tinkers with old electronics. For him, no device is obsolete, and anything can be repaired.

“It’s like the guy who has a neat garage, only our garage is this whole building,” he said.

Minnick, 61, is the more buttoned-down of the two. His office has a plaque with the quote: “When two people in a business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.”

One of his few flights of fancy is his collection of antique light bulbs, with many shapes and sizes stored in two display cases. The grouping ties into his fascination with electricity and the work of Thomas Edison, an inventor who also dabbled in building organs.

“My mother liked to joke that she must have gotten shocked when she was carrying me,” Minnick said.

One of the company’s finished products can be found at First Presbyterian Church in London, Ohio, in Madison County. The organ takes up almost the entire back wall, with 42 sets of pipes built to conform with the cathedral ceiling.

“The installation in our sanctuary fits so well that newcomers – and I dare say some old members – think that the organ has always been there,” said Thomas Lloyd, church music director. “The Bunn=Minnick sound is exactly what we wanted and is great for hymn-singing.”

Although pipe organs have been around for more than 2,000 years, the modern organ industry reached its peak after World War I. The instrument became an essential draw for movie theaters in the days of silent films in addition to its traditional role in churches.

Demand was high enough that several organ-makers became large-scale manufacturers. One of the largest was Wurlitzer, with roots in Cincinnati. The boom was followed by a bust, hastened by the arrival of movies with sound.

“When the talkies arrived, the theater-organ industry dried up almost overnight,” said Robert R. Ebert, an organist and a retired economics professor at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.

The decline continued, and craftsmen and companies got out of the business, he said. The 1970s recession was particularly difficult for organ-makers because it coincided with the rise of “modern worship.” Many churches were being built without organs; the musical accompaniment was handled by guitar and piano. Other churches used smaller, less-expensive electronic organs.

Today’s industry includes about 50 organ-makers in the United States and Canada and about 200 smaller shops that do mostly tuning, repairs and restoration, according to the most-recent annual report that Ebert completed for the American Institute of Organ Builders. Annual sales are around $100 million, including about 70 organs built in 2009.

Among the other local firms is Peebles-Herzog, also in Columbus, which has 10 employees.

Ohio also is home to one of the country’s largest and oldest organ-makers, Schantz Organ Co. in Orrville, about 25 miles southwest of Akron. It started in 1873. Victor Schantz, its president, is the grandson of the founder. He oversees a staff of about 60.

Like most businesses, organ-makers were hit hard by the recent recession. Churches scaled back on building plans, and the number of major projects dwindled.

And yet, the leaders of Bunn=Minnick are optimistic. Some churches have rediscovered organ music, part of a desire to “bring the mystique back” to services, Minnick said. This has inspired several restorations of old organs and new construction, which might be the seeds of a trend.

Ebert is waiting for a trend to show up in sales figures.

That doesn’t diminish the enthusiasm at Bunn=Minnick.

“I think this is one of the most exciting times ever,” Minnick said.

Such sentiment is one of the reasons that neither of the co-founders plans to retire soon.

The men view the business as their ministry, their way to spread their belief that religious services should be as grand as a major chord played on a pipe organ.

___

Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

AP-CS-01-12-11 1257EST

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1973 Bunn=Minnick restoration and enlargement to three manuals, 38 ranks, of an original 1895 A. B. Felgemaker organ. Image courtesy of Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organ Co.

First Moravian Church, Dover, Ohio, 1996 Bunn=Minnick pipe organ having three manuals and 41 ranks. Image courtesy of Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organ Co.

First Presbyterian Church, London, Ohio, 2003 Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organ, three manual, 42 ranks. Image courtesy of Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organ Co.

Broad Street United Methodist Church, Columbus, Ohio, 1981-2008 Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organ, four manuals, 60 ranks. Image courtesy of Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organ Co.

Prominent estates add luster to Leslie Hindman auction Feb. 6-7

Tiffany Studios paneled Favrile glass and bronze table lamp, Grapevine pattern, the hexagonal shade stamped Tiffany Studios New York, the base stamped Tiffany Studios New York 531, width of shade 16 inches, height overall 21 inches, estimate: $15,000-$20,000. Image courtesy of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.

CHICAGO – Leslie Hindman Auctioneers will conduct a Fine Furniture and Decorative Arts Auction Feb. 6-7 that comes primarily from two prominent estates.

LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding for both the Sunday session, which will begin at 11 a.m. Central, and the Monday session, which will begin at noon Central.

Medard C. Lange was a Chicago florist known nationally for his extraordinary floral arrangements and parties. He organized innumerable events at many of the city’s cultural institutions. Popular with many of Chicago’s prominent citizens, a highlight of his work was the Sharon Percy and Jay Rockefeller wedding in 1965. Lange also designed many weddings, debuts and parties for the Ford families of Grosse Pointe, Mich.

Lange’s collection of English and Continental decorative objects reveals his appreciation for fine art and entertaining. His estate includes a variety of early Wedgwood and other English basalt wares, as well as the furniture, paintings and decorative arts from Lange’s 1881 Victorian townhouse in Chicago’s Lincoln Park.

The other prominent estate contributing to the auction is that of William H. Moore, whose grandfather orchestrated the 1898 merger of more than 100 bakeries into what would eventually become Nabisco. Moore later served on the board of directors at Nabisco as well as American Can Co., Republic Aviation, Lockheed and IBM. For 17 years, until his retirement in 1975, he was chairman of Bankers Trust Co.

The diverse collection assembled by Moore and his wife of 69 years, Edith McKnight, represents a lifetime of enjoyment. Included in the estate are many fine examples of 18th- and 19th-century furniture, silver and Asian works of art.

Furniture highlights include a pair of Queen Anne gilt and gessoed console tables, a Queen Anne gilt gesso mirror, an 18th-century English tall-case clock and an 1870s American ebonized and ivory inset credenza by Herter Brothers. Also featured are a Danish sterling silver coffee service by Georg Jensen and a Russian bronze figural group by Vasilii Grachev (1831-1905), which depicts a three-horse troika passing a peasant’s sled being pulled by a single horse headed in the opposite direction.

For details visit Leslie Hindman Auctioneers’ website at www.lesliehindman.com.

View the fully illustrated catalogs 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

Russian bronze figural group by Vasilii Grachev (1831-1905), signed in Cyrillic with Woerffel foundry mark in Cyrillic, width of base 19 3/4 inches, estimate: $20,000-$40,000. Image courtesy of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.

Italian marble sculpture, Raffaelo Romanelli (1856-1928), in the Art Nouveau style, signed ‘Proff R. Romanelli Larcdessi Firenza,’ set on an octagonal black marble base, height of sculpture 37 1/2 inches, estimate: $20,000-$40,000. Image courtesy of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.

Pair of Queen Anne giltwood and gesso console tables, circa 1710, height 28 1/2 inches x width 33 1/2 inches x depth 17 3/4 inches, estimate: $15,000-$25,000. Image courtesy of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.

Queen Anne gilt gesso mirror, height 39 3/4 inches x width 21 1/2 inches, estimate: $15,000-$20,000. Image courtesy of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.

A George III mahogany secretaire bookcase, height 90 inches x width 51 inches, estimate: $10,000-$20,000. Image courtesy of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.

Beatles memorabilia display opens early in Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A collection of Beatles memorabilia has gone on display earlier than expected at a Topeka museum.

The free exhibit is called Remember My Name. It features Beatles posters, photographs, albums, singles, covers, magazines, prints, toys and other items.

Initially, it was supposed to open Feb. 5 at Washburn University’s Mulvane Art Museum. But crews put in some extra work, and it opened this past weekend.

The Beatles items will remain on display through March 20.

On March 5, there will be a free family event at the museum’s Art Lab. Participants will be able to listen to Beatles music and design and paint their own album covers, records and posters.

AP-CS-01-24-11 1801EST

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