October 18, 2012 - Auction Central News

$93,600 Va. bookcase leads Southern arts sale at Case

A Shenandoah Valley, Va., bookcase-on-bureau in original surface was the sale’s top lot. It sold for $93,600 to a collector, underbid by a museum. Case Antiques image.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A Virginia bookcase on bureau commanded $93,600 at the Fall Case Antiques Auction on Oct. 6, leading a sale bullish on Southern fine and decorative arts and historical material. Prices listed include the buyer’s premium.

The 18th century Shenandoah Valley bookcase on bureau with pullout writing surface was attributed to the Martin-Frye cabinetmaking school of Winchester, Va., and retained its original finish. It descended at the historic Matin Hill / Spangler Hall home and was sold along with a handwritten journal from 1861 inscribed “Names of the Soldiers who have called at Matin Hill.” The buyer, a private collector, was underbid by a Southern museum. Other Southern furniture in the sale included a Federal walnut and yellow pine inlaid secretary-bookcase, $6,084; a Georgia pine huntboard with scalloped drawer decoration, $5,850; and a diminutive Tennessee walnut blind-door corner cupboard, $3,400. A Federal inlaid card table attributed to Baltimore rang up $1,521 while a painted fancy chair, also attributed to Baltimore, realized $819.

An early 20th century watercolor view of a trolley against a dusky Knoxville skyline by Lloyd Branson (1861-1925) sold to an institutional buyer for $7,254 (est. $1,200-$1,800), while another institution purchased a landscape titled November in the Tennessee Mountains by Lorentz Kleiser (1879-1963) for $3,510. It was a new art auction record for the artist, who is more closely associated with New York and California. The same museum also picked up a folk art painting of the L&N Train Depot in Etowah, Tenn., by Frances Patterson (20th century) for $1,521 (est. $600-$800). A landscape by an unknown artist, picturing the home of early Middle Tennessee settler Richard Alexander, with a steamboat on the river beside it, reached a surprising $3,744 (est. $300-$400), while a large landscape with cattle beside marshes, signed and dated 1889 by George Reicke (1848-1930), who was painting in Louisiana during that period, realized $2,691. An oil on canvas depiction of President Andrew Jackson’s home, The Hermitage, by Mayna Treanor Avent (Tennessee, 1868-1959) brought $1,287, the same price as a pastoral Tennessee oil landscape by Thomas Campbell (1834-1914). A floral still life by Eleanor Wiley (Tennessee, 1876-1977) doubled expectations at $1,755, and an abstract/figural oil on canvas set an auction record for mid-20th century East Tennessee painter Robert Birdwell at $1,170.

The top-selling painting of the day was a winter landscape by New Hope, Pa., painter Kenneth Nunamaker. The oil on canvas, titled Choar Time, attracted seven phone bidders and competed to $18,720. A rare complete set of 18 photographic prints from Ansel Adams’ “Yosemite” portfolio closed at $16,380, while a fall landscape by Western painter Conrad Schwiering turned in $5,760. A vividly colored painting of a barnyard with cows by David Burliuk (Russian/American, 1882-1967) reaped $3,744. A circa 1810 unsigned miniature watercolor on ivory portrait, inscribed on back, Dr. David Wharry, also brought $3,744, while a full-size early 19th century English portrait of a gentleman, identified as Sir Edward Turner Bart, sold to an overseas buyer, bidding by phone, for $3,276. A17th century Tintoretto school sanguine drawing sold to an internet bidder for $1,320 (est. $600-$800). An abstract bronze sculpture by Victor Halvani (Egypt/Israel, born 1930) titled David With the Sling, shot to $960 (est. $300-400) and two Joan Miro lithographs from Je Travaille Comme Un Jardinier brought $1,020 and $878.

Pottery is traditionally an important category at Case. Company president John Case is a passionate scholar of Southern pottery and the company holds records for Tennessee and Kentucky pottery at auction. This sale was highlighted by a piece appropriate for election season: an East Tennessee-made harvest jug with inscription for President James A. Garfield. The unusual form with extruded handle and opposing spouts was likely made to commemorate Garfield’s 1880 victory; it competed to $8,190. An East Tennessee green glazed redware jar with sine wave incising, attributed to the Cain pottery, sold for $2,574 despite a hairline and broken handle, while a West Tennessee 6-gallon stoneware jar with crimped medial flange attributed to T.W. Craven brought $2,106 despite rim and handle chips. Tennessee and Kentucky-marked whiskey jugs were also in demand, bringing from around $300 per piece up to $643 for a “Perrows Place” Knoxville example. Case also continues to add more examples of Southern Art Pottery to its lineup. This sale featured two good pieces of Newcomb College Art Pottery decorated by Leona Nicholson (1857-1929). Her large loving cup with yellow glaze and blue flowers realized $5,382 against a $2,000-$3,000 estimate and a 9-inch vase with relief decorated tulips doubled its high estimate to earn $2,808.

One of the most intriguing items in the auction was a printed copy of the controversial “Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence” – which some claim happened in North Carolina a year before the one in Philadelphia. The original, if it ever existed, is believed to have been burned in a Revolutionary War attack on the home of one of its signers, Dr. Ephraim Brevard. Early copies are few and far between. This one, circa 1830, was consigned by a descendant of Brevard. Estimated at $700-$1,000, it sold for $6,084. Other historic documents in the sale included a set of eight documents concerning the 1st Brigade, Tennessee Volunteers during the War of 1812, $2,520; an archive related to Gen. Benjamin “The Beast” Butler’s seizure of gold in New Orleans during the Civil War, $1,560; a letter of appreciation to President Franklin Pierce signed by his entire cabinet including Jefferson Davis, $960; and a 1928 plat book of Chattanooga with several large city street maps, $1,170. Two letters, written and signed by President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy to a U.S. marshal wounded during the University of Mississippi integration riots of 1962, brought $1,755 and $1,521 respectively.

Weapons did well, with a Harper’s Ferry U.S. Model 1803 flintlock rifle (one of 1,600 made in 1814) selling for $4,680 (est. $2,000-$2,200); a circa 1850 derringer attributed to J.E. Merriman of Memphis, $3,510; and a Seigfried Waffen hunting dagger, $819. There was also healthy demand for a collection of canes, many of them concealing weapons, including a rare English mechanical flick stick cane with ivory handle, $1,170; a dog head ivory handled cane with bone shaft, $960; and a gentleman’s silver-plated dress gun cane with wooden grip and a Day’s patent .56-caliber under-hammer percussion gun cane, both $840.

Southern Textiles included a sampler with floral border made by Sarah Donoho of Middle Tennessee in 1835, which sold at the top of its estimate for $3,600, and an appliqued wool wall hanging by Kate Clayton (“Granny”) Donaldson of Brasstown, N.C., (1864-1960) with farm animals, $1,404 (est. $200-$400). Two 19th century Middle Tennessee floral patterned quilts brought $527 apiece.

While “Jim Crow” items are usually associated with the United States, an English silver presentation cup in the sale hinted at the international success enjoyed by T.R. Rice, creator of the Jim Crow Minstrel Show. The cup and cover, originally made in 1765, was redecorated and inscribed in 1837 by The Jim Crow Club of London and presented to Rice during his tour stop in the city. It sold for $3,000 to a Southern collector, underbid by the Jim Crow Museum at Ferris University (which uses such objects to teach tolerance).

Silver as a category did consistently well, including a mid-century Maciel Mexican silver tea service with tray, $6,318; and a rare mirrored sterling plateau in a floral repoussé pattern by Jacobi and Jenkins of Baltimore, $1,800. A circa 1850 coin silver tipped walking stick, the first known marked piece by Lebanon, Tenn., silversmith James Ragland, brought $1,140, and a New Orleans-made Hyde and Goodrich soup ladle earned $643.

Case’s auctions consistently attract a significant number of bidders from Asia. Highlights in this sale’s Asian category included a large Meiji ivory okimono figure of a reclining man with children playing at his feet, $1,638, and a signed Japanese Art Deco period bronze figure of three cranes with a glass ball balanced atop, $1,080. A Chinese carved celadon jade libation cup with dragon handle brought $840, the same price as a Chinese yellow ground porcelain bottle vase in the Hundred Butterflies pattern and a pair of Famille rose bowls with robin’s egg color ground and bird decoration, all 20th century. A Cultural Revolution ivory figure of a child with sheep sold for $780.

A large mid-20th century Navajo Ganado rug with diamond design on red field led a selection of Southwestern material, much of it consigned by a single Middle Tennessee collector. The rug sold for $3,000 (est. $1,000-$1,500). A 5-inch-tall San Ildefonso polychrome jar by Blue Corn (Crucita Calabaza, 1920-1999) realized $1,287, while a Blue Corn redware jar of the same size made $660, and a 6-inch-tall San Ildefonso blackware jar by Tonita Martinez Roybal (1892-1945) tripled its high estimate, hitting $1,170.

There was good buzz surrounding a collection of breweriana, most of it from the Chattanooga Brewing Co., driven out of business by Prohibition. A scarce advertisement on canvasboard depicting a young woman in sailor dress, holding a bottle of Faultless Lager, served up $2,640. A lithographed tin picture of the company’s plant brought $1,800, and a framed 1907 paper cutout calendar, depicting an attractive woman, charmed its way to $1,404 against a $200-$300 estimate. A framed pair of advertising pennants for Reif’s Special and Reif’s Tripure flew to $780 (est. $300-$450), and an oval Reif’s advertising lithograph sign sold for $936 (est. $300-$400). It took $600, double the high estimate, to buy a circa 1900 Adm. George Dewey round clear glass flask, lotted with a Prohibition-era porcelain ring flask, labeled and in the form of a “Life Preserver.”

Clocks did well, with a Welch and Strong rosewood mantel clock ticking to $760, the same price as an Aesthetic Movement hanging clock with female bust and griffins, believed to have hung in the Hotel Lafayette in Buffalo, N.Y. A Classical period shelf clock with reverse-painted glass panel depicting a train, with label for Wadsworth & Co. Augusta, Ga., hammered down at $643.

Other standouts in the sale included a cast-iron turkey doorstop attributed to Bradley and Hubbard, $2,808, a Lalique Deux Poissons glass sculpture of intertwined fish, $1,320, and a pair of Lalique Reverie nude bookends, also $1,320. A set of 24 William Yeoward crystal glasses in the Fern pattern reached $1,560. A 14K gold, opal and black Victorian style enamel brooch/pendant sold for $960 and a lot of Victorian mourning jewelry including Whidby jet beads and a 14K gold flip ring made $760. A set of 10 Colonial Revival Chippendale style dining chairs earned $1,920, a pair of L and J.G. Stickley oak side tables brought $1,320, and a mid-century modern Isamu Noguchi IN-50 coffee table with black lacquered base realized $780.

Case is accepting consignments for its Winter Cataloged Auction, to be held Jan. 26 at the company’s gallery in Knoxville. For more information 865-558-3033 or the company’s Nashville office at 615-812-6096 or email info@caseantiques.com.

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

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Seven phone bidders battled it out for this winter landscape by New Hope, Pa., painter Kenneth Nunamaker, titled ‘Choar Time.’ It worked its way to $18,720 (est. $5,000-$7,000). Case Antiques image.

A timely piece, this East Tennessee pottery harvest jar commemorated the 1880 election of President James A. Garfield and tallied $8,190 (est. $2,500-$4,500). Case Antiques image.

A 1765 George II silver cup and cover with later decoration and inscription ‘From the Jim Crow Club of London to T.D. Rice,’ sold for $3,000. Rice received the cup when he brought his ‘Jim Crow Minstrel Show’ to London in 1837. Case Antiques image.

Leading the historic document category was this circa 1830s printed copy of the so-called Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, reputedly made in North Carolina a year prior to the one in Philadelphia. It sold for $6,084. Case Antiques image.

Il mercato dell’arte in Italia: Le ‘Italian Sales’ di ottobre a Londra

Le aste di arte italiana che si sono tenute a Londra l’11 e il 12 ottobre hanno confermato ancora una volta la domanda di arte italiana del Dopoguerra a livello internazionale. Piero Manzoni e Lucio Fontana sono stati di nuovo le star della vendita, insieme ad alcuni dei protagonisti dell’Arte Povera come Pistoletto e Luciano Fabro.

Tra i maestri moderni, i più richiesti rimangono Giorgio Morandi e Giorgio De Chirico. Sette i nuovi record stabiliti per opere di Michelangelo Pistoletto (858.727 euro), Luciano Fabro (828.811 euro), Arnaldo Pomodoro (596.640 euro), Fausto Melotti (235.296 euro), Nicola de Maria (156.677 euro), Paola Pivi (89.187 euro) e Vettor Pisani (30.439 euro). Il totale combinato delle due aste è stato di quasi 40 milioni di euro.

Christie’s ha totalizzato 19,8 milioni di euro (il secondo totale più alto da quando la casa d’asta ha iniziato a tenere una vendita interamente dedicata all’arte italiana del XX secolo nel 2000), con percentuali di venduto pari al 96% per valore e 93% per lotto.

Il prezzo più alto è stato pagato per un “Achrome” di Piero Manzoni che ha realizzato 3,2 milioni di euro. Gli “Achromes” di Piero Manzoni sono una serie di opere seminali che ricorre come una costante nella breve carriera dell’artista (Manzoni è morto d’infarto a soli 29 anni). L’opera venduta da Christie’s proviene da un gruppo relativamente raro di “Achromes” che Manzoni ha iniziato intorno al 1959, ed è già stata parte di collezioni prestigiose come la Collezione Beyeler e la collezione di Claude Berri. È stata acquisita nel 2008 alla stessa asta di arte italiana di Christie’s a Londra per 2,1 milioni di euro, il che significa che il suo valore è aumentato di più di un milione in quattro anni.

La top ten di Christie’s è dominata da Lucio Fontana. Un quarto dell’intera asta consisteva di opere di Fontana e tutte hanno trovato un acquirente. Anche se il mercato delle opere di Lucio Fontana è stabile su prezzi alti, c’è ancora margine di crescita.

In un commento post-asta, Mariolina Bassetti, Vicepresidente di Christie’s Italia, Direttore internazionale nel dipartimento di arte contemporanea e del Dopoguerra, e responsabile della vendita, ha espresso particolare soddisfazione per il risultato di Pistoletto: “Forse il prezzo più gratificante è stato quello realizzato da “Metrocubo d’Infinito” di Michelangelo Pistoletto, che non è solo un tributo all’artista, ma anche al gusto del suo ex-proprietario, Graziella Buontempo, uno dei più grandi e precoci ambasciatori dell’arte italiana moderna”.

Sotheby’s ha realizzato un risultato totale di 19,3 milioni di euro con percentuali di vendita più basse di Christie’s: 82% per valore e 76% per lotto. Anche qui il prezzo più alto è stato pagato per un “Achrome” di Piero Manzoni, venduto ad un acquirente americano per 5 milioni di euro. E anche in questo caso Manzoni è seguito in classifica da Lucio Fontana con due opere eccezionali. Una, venduta per 2,3 milioni di euro, è una rara opera della serie dei tagli con tre linee verticali in oro che accentuano il taglio centrale sulla superficie rosa. Nel 2004 è stata battuta da Sotheby’s per 282.696 euro, il che significa che in otto anni ha moltiplicato per dieci il suo valore.

L’altra è un importante taglio nato dal confronto creativo di Lucio Fontana con Venezia. La superficie dorata richiama la pala d’altare d’oro di San Marco, o il riflesso del sole sulla laguna, mentre i frammenti di vetro di Murano accentuano la tridimensionalità dell’opera. L’opera è stata venduta per 1,9 milioni di euro.

Anche da Sotheby’s l’Arte Povera è stata molto richiesta: una delle prime opere della serie “Italia” di Luciano Fabro, che l’artista ha iniziato nel 1968 e ha riproposto per i decenni successivi in una varietà di materiali, ha realizzato il nuovo record per l’artista di 828.811 euro. Era la prima “Italia” ad apparire all’asta dal 2006, quando “Italia, carta stradale” segnò il record precedente per l’artista di 529.478 euro. Anche “Il dinosauro che emerge” di Pino Pascali, un altro rappresentante dell’Arte Povera, ha acceso la competizione tra i collezionisti. L’opera, una tela dipinta di bianco a forma di dinosauro, ha raddoppiato la stima ed è stata venduta per 787.732 euro.

La scultura era presente con il “Cavaliere” di Marino Marini, che mostra il tema del cavallo e del cavaliere, ricorrente nell’opera dello scultore italiano. Realizzata nel 1947, l’opera riporta la resa armoniosa che caratterizza quel periodo, con l’uomo e l’animale che si mostrano imperturbabili, diversamente dalle figure che cadono, più drammatiche, che hanno dominato la scultura di Marini negli anni ’50. L’opera è stata venduta per 1,2 milioni di euro.

Nella top ten di Sotheby’s c’è anche una “Natura Morta” di Giorgio Morandi del 1957. Anche quest’opera mostra la forza dell’arte italiana del Dopoguerra: è stata acquistata da un privato americano per 1,1 milioni di euro; nel 2007 la stessa opera era stata venduta da Christie’s a Londra per 639.282 euro.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Art Market Italy: October’s Italian sales in London

The sales of Italian art held in London on Oct. 11 and 12 once again confirmed the demand for postwar Italian art at the international level. Piero Manzoni and Lucio Fontana were once more the stars of the sale, together with some of the protagonists of Arte Povera, such as Pistoletto and Luciano Fabro.

Among the modern masters, the most requested remain Giorgio Morandi and Giorgio De Chirico. Seven artist records were set for works by Michelangelo Pistoletto ($1.1 million), Luciano Fabro ($1.1 million), Arnaldo Pomodoro ($768,000), Fausto Melotti ($310,000), Nicola de Maria ($204,000), Paola Pivi ($118,000) and Vettor Pisani ($40,000). The combined total result of the two sales was $50.5 million.

Christie’s totalized $25.5 million (the second highest total since the auction house started holding a sale entirely dedicated to 20th century Italian art in 2000), with a record sold rate of 96 percent by value and 93 percent by lot.

The top price was paid for an “Achrome” by Piero Manzoni, which realized $3.7 million. Piero Manzoni’s “Achromes” are a seminal series of works that run like a constant throughout the artist’s short career (Manzoni died of heart attack when he was only 29). The work sold at Christie’s comes from a comparatively rare group of “Achromes” that Manzoni started around 1959, and was already part of prestigious collections such as the Beyeler collection and the collection of Claude Berri. It was acquired in 2008 at the same sale of Italian art at Christie’s in London for $2.6 million, which means that it raised its value for more than $1 million in four years.

Christie’s top 10 is dominated by Lucio Fontana. A quarter of the whole sale consisted of works by Fontana, and all works found a buyer. Even if the market for Lucio Fontana’s works is stable on high prices, there is still room for growth.

In a postsale commentary Mariolina Bassetti, vice chairman of Christie’s Italy, international director in the postwar & contemporary art department and head of the sale, expressed particular satisfaction for the result by Arte Povera representative Pistoletto: “Perhaps most pleasing was the price realized by Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Metrocubo d’Infinito (“Cubic Meter of Infinity”) which is not only a tribute to the artist, but also to the taste of its former owner, Graziella Buontempo, one of the greatest early ambassadors of modern Italian art.”

Sotheby’s realized a total result of $25 million with lower sold rates than Christie’s: 82 percent by value and 76 percent by lot. Again the top price was paid for an “Achrome” by Piero Manzoni, which sold for $6.4 million to a U.S. buyer, and again Manzoni was followed in the ranking by Lucio Fontana, with two exceptional works. One that sold for $3 million was a rare work from the “Cuts” series, with three geometric golden stripes accenting the central cut on a pink surface. In 2004 it was sold at Sotheby’s for $369,500, which means its value has multiplied tenfold in eight years.

The other work is another important “Cut” which was born from Lucio Fontana’s creative engagement with Venice. The golden surface recalls the golden altar of the Basilica di San Marco, or the sunshine reflecting on the “laguna,” while the Murano glass fragments enhance the three-dimensionality of the work. The work realized $2.5 million.

Also at Sotheby’s Arte Povera was in great demand. An early work from the “Italia” series by Luciano Fabro, which the artist began in 1968 and revisited over the next decades in a variety of materials, realized a new record for the artists at $1.1 million. It was the first “Italia” to appear at auction since 2006, when “Italy, road map” set the previous record for the artist of $693,504. Also “Il dinosauro che emerge” by Pino Pascali, another Arte Povera representative, caused a bidding competition. The work, a white painted and shaped canvas in the form of a dinosaurian, doubled the estimate and was sold for $1 million.

Sculpture was present with “Cavaliere” by Marino Marini, which shows the recurrent theme of the horse and rider in the work of the Italian sculptor. Realized in 1947, the work recalls the harmonious renderings of the theme that characterize that period, with both man and animal appearing unperturbed, unlike the more dramatic, falling figures that dominated Marini’s sculpture of the 1950s. The work sold for $1.5 million.

Sotheby’s top 10 also includes a “Natura Morta” (still life) by Giorgio Morandi from 1957. Also this work shows the strength of Italian postwar art. It was purchased by a U.S. buyer for $1.4 million; in 2007 the same work had sold at Christie’s in London for $665,837.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Museum of the Confederacy paintings join exhibit at Smithsonian

Conrad Wise Chapman (American, 1842-1910), 'Fort Sumter Interior Sunrise,' Dec. 9, 1864. Image courtesy of The Museum of the Confederacy.

RICHMOND, Va. – Nine of the entire set of 31 paintings of the harbor and defenses of Charleston, South Carolina, by Confederate soldier Conrad Wise Chapman and acquired by the Museum of the Confederacy from the artist, are to be displayed in the exhibition “The Civil War and American Art,” presented by the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The nine artworks to be exhibited include the famous painting of the submarine H. L. Hunley. This exhibition, organized by Eleanor Jones Harvey, senior curator, also contains paintings by Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Frederic Church, and Sanford Gifford. The exhibit will open to the public Nov. 16, 2012, and run through April 28, 2013.

S. Waite Rawls III, President and CEO of the Museum of the Confederacy stated: “Conrad Wise Chapman was the best of the soldier artists. We are pleased that all of his Charleston wartime paintings are in our collection and nine will be in the Smithsonian’s exhibit.”

Chapman, who had been living in Europe before returning to America to serve in the Confederate army, was commissioned in 1863 by the Chief of Staff to General P.G.T. Beauregard to make sketches of Charleston Harbor for Beauregard’s use in planning its defense. After completing the sketches the artist returned to Europe to live in Rome. Using the sketches, the paintings were completed the following year by Chapman and his father.

Each of the 31 paintings can be found on the Museum of the Confederacy’s website www.moc.org under Exhibitions/Online.

Publications, online features, an audio tour, public programs, and educational initiatives are also planned. Information will be available on the Smithsonian’s website.

About The Museum of the Confederacy:

The Museum of the Confederacy is a private, nonprofit educational institution. The Museum and White House are located in downtown Richmond in the historic Court End neighborhood, in addition to its new location in Appomattox. The Museum owns the world’s largest collection of artifacts and documents related to the Confederate States of America.

Contact: 855-649-1861, online: www.moc.org

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Conrad Wise Chapman (American, 1842-1910), 'Submarine Torpedo Boat HL Hundley.' Image courtesy of The Museum of the Confederacy. — Conrad Wise Chapman (American, 1842-1910), ‘Submarine Torpedo Boat HL Hundley.’ Image courtesy of The Museum of the Confederacy.

UK exhibition focuses on The Lost Prince: Henry Stuart

The Royal Collection Photo: Supplied by Royal Collection Trust / HM Queen Elizabeth II 2012

LONDON – The National Portrait Gallery today unveiled the first-ever exhibition on Henry, Prince of Wales (1594-1612). The exhibition focuses on a remarkable period in British history, dominated by a prince whose death at a young age precipitated widespread national grief, and led eventually to the accession to the throne of his younger brother, the doomed King Charles I.

The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart marks the 400th anniversary of the Prince’s death and, staged during The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year, assembles for the first time an extraordinary range of objects associated with Henry, including major loans from the Royal Collection.

As well as paintings, a large selection of drawings, miniatures, manuscripts, books, armor and other artefacts associated with the Prince illustrate the remarkable artistic and creative community that developed under his patronage. Gathered from museums and private collections in Britain and abroad, some have never previously been on public display.

The exhibition includes some of the most important works of art and culture produced and collected in the Jacobean period, including portraits by Holbein, Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver, masque designs by Inigo Jones, and poetry by Ben Jonson in his own hand.

Loans include several extraordinary portraits of Henry by Robert Peake, who created an entirely new kind of royal portraiture for the young Prince, showing him in unusual and dramatic poses, as a man of action.

Brave, handsome, clever, athletic, noble and cultured, Henry embodied all the princely virtues. In his short life he was the focus of great hope and expectation, not just in Britain but in all of Protestant Europe, and his court was the centre of a revival of chivalry and a renaissance in the arts.

This exhibition, which explores Henry’s life and image, and the extraordinary reaction to his death, aims to transform our understanding of this exceptional prince and the time in which he lived.

In November 1612, shortly before his nineteenth birthday, Henry, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of James I of England and VI of Scotland, and Anne of Denmark, died of typhoid fever after a short illness. The nation was struck by grief at the loss of this most promising prince who, as King Henry IX, it was believed would become a king to transform Britain.

Unlike his father James, Henry was seen as militaristic, ardently Protestant and fiercely moral; he was also a precocious patron of the arts, collecting paintings, sculpture and books, commissioning ambitious garden designs and architecture, and performing in elaborate court festivities. He took an active interest in the navy and exploration, sponsoring an expedition to find the Northwest Passage and giving his name to new settlements in Virginia.

He was the first British royal to actively collect European renaissance paintings; he acquired the first collection of Italian renaissance bronzes in England, and brought the first collection of antique coins and medals to England; he also assembled the largest and most important library in the land. His patronage of court masques and festivals, architecture and garden design established his court as a rival to the great princely courts of Europe. Visitors can see examples from these collections as well as exquisite inlaid armour made for Henry and a selection of manuscript letters and writing exercises in Henry’s hand.

Henry’s death inspired an extraordinary stream of poetical and musical tributes, published in nearly 50 contemporary volumes; his lavish funeral procession, including over 2,000 official mourners, was watched by a nation lining the streets, ‘whose streaming eyes made knowen howe much inwardly their harts did bleed.’ The exhibition displays, for the first time in two centuries, the remains of Prince Henry’s funeral effigy with an engraving that shows it lying on his hearse, dressed in his clothes.

The exhibition looks at Henry’s upbringing and education, his court and patronage, his collecting, and finally his illness, death and legacy.

Exhibits have been drawn together from public and private collections, including the Royal Collection, the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth House, Parham Park, The British Library, the British Museum, the National Maritime Museum, Trinity College, Cambridge and Dulwich Picture Gallery.

The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart is curated by Catharine MacLeod, Curator of Seventeenth-Century Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery. She has previously curated Painted Ladies: Women at the Court of Charles II. Catharine is also currently co-writing a catalogue raisonné of the works of Sir Peter Lely.

She says: “This exhibition provides a wonderful opportunity to assemble, for the first time since Prince Henry’s death 400 years ago, a group of paintings, drawings and other extraordinary objects, which give us a glimpse into the spectacular and culturally rich life of this exceptional Prince.”

Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, says: “Henry, Prince of Wales was the focus of extraordinary developments in the visual arts, architecture, music and literature during the Jacobean period, which led to Britain’s establishment as a cultural player on the world stage. On the 400th anniversary of his death, we are delighted to be able to stage this revelatory exhibition.”

Exhibition Details:

The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart runs through Jan. 13, 2013 at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Gift Aid ticket prices: (includes voluntary Gift Aid donation of 10% above standard price) Adult £13.00, Concessions £12.00 / £11.00 Standard ticket prices: Adult £11.70, Concessions £10.80 / £10.00

Supported by The Weiss Gallery and individual exhibition supporters

Publication:

A fully illustrated hardback catalog, The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart, by curator Catharine MacLeod with contributions from Malcolm Smuts, Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and Timothy Wilks, Senior Lecturer in the Visual Arts at Southampton Solent University, is available. Price £30 (hardback), and £25 exclusively at the gallery.

Events:

There is a full program of associated events, including a conference. To book please go to www.npg.org.uk

Hours/Directions:

National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place WC2H 0HE, opening hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10am – 6pm (Gallery closure commences at 5.50pm) Late Opening: Thursday, Friday: 10am – 9pm (Gallery closure commences at 8.50pm) Nearest Underground: Leicester Square/Charing Cross General information: 0207 306 0055 Recorded information: 020 7312 2463 Website/Tickets: www.npg.org.uk

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From The Collection at Parham House, Pulborough, West Sussex Photo: Michael Donne

Westminster Abbey Photo: Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey

The Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement Photo: Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth. Reproduced by permission of Chatsworth Settlement Trustees

Florida man charged with smuggling dinosaur fossils into US

Skeleton of tyrannosaurus bataar. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Skeleton of Tyrannosaurus bataar. Heritage Auctions image.

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida man was charged Wednesday with smuggling dinosaur fossils into the United States, including a nearly complete Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton from Mongolia, federal prosecutors said.

Eric Prokopi, a self-described “commercial paleontologist” who buys and sells whole and partial dinosaur skeletons, was arrested at his home in Gainesville, according to a complaint unsealed by prosecutors. He was charged with smuggling goods into the U.S. and interstate sale and receipt of stolen goods.

He also faces one count of conspiracy to smuggle illegal goods, possess stolen property and make false statements. If convicted on all of the charges, he could face up to 35 years in prison.

Prokopi made an appearance Wednesday in federal court in Gainesville, where U.S. District Judge Gary R. Jones ordered him to be held on $100,000 bond. Prokopi must also surrender his passport and be kept under home detention. He did not enter a plea.

The arrest was handled by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the investigation “uncovered a one-man black market in prehistoric fossils.” The U.S. government seized the Tyrannosaurus skeleton earlier this year after it was sold by an auction house for $1.05 million.

Prokopi did not immediately respond to a phone call, but his attorney has said he did nothing wrong.

Prokopi has been involved in a lawsuit in New York over the auction because the Mongolian government has said it may belong to that country. Prokopi’s attorney in the lawsuit, Michael McCullough, has said his client is entitled to keep the creature he spent a year putting together at great expense.

McCullough has said the U.S. government was incorrect when it alleged that the skeleton pieces were brought into the country in one $15,000 shipment. He said there were three other shipments and only 37 percent of the completed skeleton came from one specimen.

Federal prosecutors said Prokopi misrepresented the identity, origin and value of the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus bataar, a dinosaur that lived approximately 70 million years ago.

Prokopi also is accused of illegally importing from Mongolia the skeleton of a Saurolophus, another dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period that he sold to a gallery in California along with fossils of two other dinosaurs native to Mongolia, Gallimimus and Oviraptor mongoliensis. He also imported the fossilized remains of a Microraptor, a small, flying dinosaur from China, the complaint said.

Prokopi brought the fossils into the country between 2010 and 2012, prosecutors said.

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Carousel curator hopes to unravel mystery of paintings

A C.W. Parker Co. carousel in Tucson, Ariz. Image by MadMaxMarchHare. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) – It’s been a few weeks since C.W. Parker Carousel Museum Director Jerry Reinhardt brought back to Leavenworth what was bound to be one of the facility’s most unique pieces – now if they can only figure out what it is.

Reinhardt said he and his wife Marilyn picked up the two canvas rolls during the most recent National Carousel Association conference in Washington, D.C. They were donated by Barbara Charles, a partner in a Washington-based museum planning firm.

Even for Charles, Reinhardt and the other volunteers at the Leavenworth museum who have access to archives and other information about the carnival magnate who had a factory here after moving from Abilene, the two pieces are somewhat mysterious. One is 45 inches tall and the other about 32 inches tall. Both, however, are about 200 feet long and weigh about 100 pounds.

“It’s not easy to handle,” he said.

The banners, hand-painted with oil on canvas, depict in detail two different scenes – one seems to follow a creation story from the Ice Age through the dinosaurs and the first appearance of people. The other is something of a travelogue, with scenes from nearly every continent. They were likely rolled up between two poles, with viewers seeing between 6 and 12 feet of the painting at a time.

Reinhardt said his thought is that the two canvases were part of Parker’s traveling carnivals, a sort of surrogate visual sideshow in the days just before movies became commonplace and certainly before “talkies.”

“They would see this rolled across in front of them and I think that somebody had to be reading some kind of narrative,” he said.

But, Reinhardt also cautioned, there’s no hard proof yet that there was a story with it.

“That’s my theory, and that’s just the theory, believe me,” he said.

Three different groups in three different locations – Leavenworth, Washington, D.C., and Spokane, Wash. – are now combing archives for information on the artifacts.

Here’s what Reinhardt said they do know – he has seen a photograph of a “drawing card” used to attract visitors to different carnival sideshows with the word “Creation” and a painting similar to that on the scroll.

One of the researchers, Bette Largent of the National Carousel Association, also has a good idea of who painted them – a man named Thomas G. Moses.

“He was the sign painter and he was in the Kansas City area and the Salina area at the time period,” Reinhardt said, of about 1900.

As much as what they are, Reinhardt said volunteers at the museum are working on what to do with them. He said the size of either banner prohibits a full display.

“They’re both 200 feet long,” he said. “This entire building’s only 200 feet long.”

Reinhardt said there was talk of editing footage of the painting into a video to show in the museum’s theater. Or display the banners during special occasions.

But in addition to what he said could be months of research, Reinhardt said there is some damage on the outermost parts of the scrolls due to exposure to the air, so the museum is looking into some restoration work.

It’s bound to require some more effort. But Reinhardt said having seen the scrolls in their entirety, he said it’s worth it to have something of this nature.

“We know it’s valuable, we know it’s unique,” Reinhardt said. “It’s likely one of a kind.”

AP-WF-10-16-12 1602GMT

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Former bandleader dialed in as antique radio repairman

Art Deco styled Majestic Model 461 radio. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Tom Harris Auctions.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – When Terry Layman was given his first radio more than 50 years ago, it opened the door to a world of tinkering with vacuum tubes and filter capacitors, and late-night tuning in to faraway places.

“We lived in Florida back in the ’50s and a relative gave me a Hallicrafters S-38B – shortwave. I must have been about 11. It was the first inspiration. I took it apart, trying to get an understanding of what made it tick, and I listened to foreign broadcasts.”

We’re in a small room in his shop that’s been designated, Layman says, for relaxation. A gracious host, he lifts a radio chassis off the lone armchair and offers a seat. There are newer shortwaves and AM-FMs on the floor and radio-related memorabilia in boxes all around.

An old cardboard dial from the Crosley Radio Corp. of Cincinnati lists stations and kilocycles from Algeria to Venezuela; “You’re there with a Crosley,” it says, promising to be a radio adventurer’s magic carpet to far-flung lands.

On his Hallicrafters, Layman traveled as a boy to prerevolutionary Havana, Moscow, London – wherever he could find on shortwave, “and, of course, regular broadcasts in America on broadcast band. It was fun to listen to see how far you could pick up something.”

“It looked like that one up there,” he says, pointing to a boxy shortwave on a shelf around the corner.

“It was fun to do what we call DXing, trying to find that little station in the middle of nowhere on the dial, late in the evening. DXing was ‘the art of radio listening.’” And DXing could also give you bragging rights: “Bet you can’t guess what station I found last night.”

But that first Hallicrafters was just the hook.

“I started to collect more radios. I had radios stacked on the dresser, pretending it was part of a showroom. My mother was a little perplexed, but she didn’t discourage me,” he says. He kept a glowing radio chassis by his bed as a nightlight and strung antenna wire across his sister’s ceiling. The night it all fell down on her in bed became part of the family lore: “Mommeee!”

By the time he was a teen, Layman had moved with his family back to his home state of Ohio. He studied music performance, another passion, in college in Cincinnati. A regular orchestra gig took him past what was then a vast collection of radio antennas on hundreds of acres at the Voice of America relay station: “So every week I was driving up I-75, past this array of blinking lights and thinking oh, that’s just neat.”

Turning the dial forward: Layman and his wife, Janet, moved to Lexington in 1987, after he retired from a career as an Air Force bandleader. He got a master’s degree in music from the University of Kentucky, but his boyhood dream was hard to squelch.

“I kept telling my wife, ‘I sure would like to open up a shop,’ and she said, ‘Well, go ahead. Let’s give it a test run.’ And that was in 1991. So I’ve been open 21 years,” says Layman.

Some of his first advertising was on a local station that played old radio shows, and he made lots of contacts through a booth at the Angliana Avenue antiques market. Places like Barney Miller’s and Pop’s Resale send him referrals.

The business has moved a few times over the years, but now he’s back on the street where he started, Porter Place off Versailles Road.

What is most satisfying? “Probably uppermost is the history behind a lot of the radios that come in. It was purchased by a customer’s parents or grandparents, maybe as kids they could hear programs on it. It’s a treasure to them, and likewise, I’m honored to put that back in their hands. And it’s thrilling to bring something back to life that hasn’t worked for 70 years.”

“Plus, I really like the stylings,” he says.

There’s a lot of styling in the front room: classic Philco floor consoles and table models – an Air Castle, a Silvertone and radios with dark Bakelite or cream-colored Plaskon cases.

“A lot of the department stores produced their own brands,” says Layman. “They didn’t make the radio but would have the dials designed.” Air Castle was Spiegel, Silvertone was Sears. Aetna was the Walgreen brand back in the ’30s. It was popular to hitch the name to flight: Goodyear stores sold a model called Wings.

But there’s a more earthbound quality to some of the radio style nicknames: tombstone, casket. “Dress up your parlor with the new casket-style radio!” Layman has one from 1924. Open the lid, read the label and you find it’s a Freshman Masterpiece. One case in his shop is devoted to “widowmakers” – all-metal models that had the annoying habit of shocking anyone attempting a repair near the kitchen sink.

Layman estimates he has nearly 300 radios in the shop. Some are for sale; a case full of transistors, including a model alluringly named the Suburbia, represents “a smidgen from my personal collection.” It’s probably best not to contemplate the size of that collection.

Layman can refinish cabinets that have spent years in the barn and renovate interiors where mice have lived as squatters. A lot of what he does, he says, is fix what the handyman fixed – quick repairs made at a time when the radio was the only entertainment around, and it was important to keep it going. Radio repairmen used to provide loaners when something needed to go in the shop. Layman says he has offered a loaner or two in his day.

Is there anything else the reporter should ask? “Well, how about, what’s my favorite radio?” he says.

“Yeah, that’s a tough one,” he answers. “I have some Bakelites from the ’30s that I just love the stylings, but then I’ll see a floor model.” his voice trails off. There’s one he’d really like to find, he says, and digs out a photo of a 70-year-old Majestic 2A50-F. “It’s not pretty, it’s just so strange.” Built into a nondescript box is a speaker that swivels like a one-eyed robot. “It doesn’t do anything more than make you uneasy,” he says, unable to disguise the longing in his voice.

AP-WF-10-16-12 1915GMT

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UK’s Nat’l Fine Art & Antiques Fair sets January dates

An early 19th century mahogany extending dining table from W R Harvey & Co (Antiques Ltd)

BIRMINGHAM, England – The National Fine Art & Antiques Fair takes place at The National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham Jan. 16-20, 2013. Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2013 this well respected annual event will stage an impressive display of the finest antiques and fine art for which it has an enviable reputation. Specialist dealers from across the UK offer a wide range of disciplines from pictures, furniture, silver, glass, jewelry, carpets and rugs, arms and armor; clocks, sculpture, decorative works of art and all kinds of rare collectors’ curiosities.

The fair is strictly vetted and the majority of dealers exhibiting are members of the two trade associations, BADA and LAPADA. While attracting collectors, interior designers and avid fair-goers from the Midlands, it is an ideal opportunity for those from farther afield to spend a happy day pursuing the very best each discipline has to offer.

Among the cornucopia of antiques for sale are a number of highlights including an exceptional early 19th century mahogany dining table with five original leaves, circa 1845, which would grace any dining room today, from W R Harvey & Co (Antiques) Ltd of Witney with a price tag of £20,000. Other furniture dealers at the fair include S & S Timms and Mark Seabrook Antiques. Mark Seabrook is selling a superb burr elm late 17th century three legged table which has acquired a wonderful color and patina over the years, dated 1680-1690, it is for sale at £3,500.

Antique arms and armor is a fascinating area of collecting and Garth Vincent Antiques always presents a gripping array of antique flintlock pistols, guns, military swords and suits of armour and for this fair he is bringing a cased pair of officers pistols, circa 1820, priced at £8,250 as well as a Cromwellian Pikeman’s armor, circa 1630, for £9,500.

FJ and RD Story antique clocks from Rotherham are bringing a good selection of clocks including an impressive mahogany 8-day longcase by Wright & Sellon of London, circa 1760, for £14,500. Other specialist dealers include Brian Watson Antique Glass who is exhibiting a serving bottle engraved with the arms of the Foscari family, one of the oldest families of Venice. Francesco Foscari (1373-1457) was Doge of Venice from 1423 to 1457. In 1868 the Foscari family gave their palace on the Grand Canal to the city to found the Ca’ Foscari University. It is thought this bottle was made in the latter half of the 19th century and is for sale for £3,750.

A wide selection of fine art is to be found at the fair with Campbell Wilson of Aberdeenshire bringing sketches by Joseph Edward Southall (1861-1944) including a charming pencil drawing of a head of a boy as well as other Birmingham School artists such as Arthur Gaskin (1862-1928), Sydney Meteyard (1868-1947) and Edward Steel Harper (1878-1951). Other fine art dealers include local dealer, Saunders Fine Art of Solihull, Neptune Fine Art Ltd bringing a selection of Lowry originals and Modern British artists and Art World Ltd.

The fair is renowned for its dramatic decoration and the jewelry stands sparkle amongst the ‘Black Box’ effect. Wimpole Antiques are showing a very interesting pair of enamel on gold drop ear-rings of jockeys sitting on weighing scales wearing the colors of Mrs Snewing whose horse, Caractacus, won The Derby in 1862. T Robert is bringing a fine 18 carat gold natural yellow diamond and white flower cluster which can alternate between a ring and a pendant, c 1894, for £10,000. A talking piece must surely be an 18 carat gold and ruby cartoon-size mouse by Tiffany, circa 1955-1960, £3,800 from Plaza.

And finally, amongst the quirky pieces to be found at the fair is a piqué mounted parasol with an ivory handle in the shape of a dog from Jean A Bateman Antiques of Broadway, who is also bringing jewelry and scent bottles.

Details:

Show dates Jan. 16-20.

Opening Hours: 11am – 7pm Wednesday, 11am – 6pm Thursday/Friday/Saturday, 11am – 5pm Sunday

Ticket Information: £15 including free car parking (£12 in advance)

Ticket bookings: 0844 581 0827

Refreshments: Licensed bar, restaurant and café within the fair

Organizers: Clarion Events Ltd, NEC, Birmingham B40 1NT

General Information: 0121 767 2947, antiquesnec@clarionevents.com

www.thenationalfair.co.uk

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