NEW YORK – Doyle held a successful auction of American Furniture, Silver, Decorative Arts, and Folk Art on May 2, and enjoyed triumph anew the next day with its American Paintings & Prints sale on May 3.
The May 2 sale showcased fine American furniture spanning nearly 150 years, folk art and American country furniture from several collections, an array of American silver and decorative arts, and a selection of Chinese export porcelain.
Highlighting the auction was a sand art bottle made and labeled by Andrew Clemens of McGregor, Iowa, which soared past its estimate of $20,000-$40,000 to achieve a staggering $113,400. It was completed in 1876 to mark the American Centennial for Mr. and Mrs. H.J. Boardman. H.J. Boardman appears to be Halsey Boardman, a railroad businessman and politician based in Boston whose dealings may have taken him through McGregor, Iowa, in the mid-1870s. This is an early bottle by the renowned artist whose work, as it has become better studied, has gained tremendously in popularity during the last 10 to 15 years. It exhibits motifs that became Clemens’s signatures throughout the 1880s – a spread-wing eagle and patriotic details, complex geometry and a high degree of personalization.
Furniture in the sale featured a Renaissance Revival center table by Pottier & Stymus of New York that realized $31,500, many times its estimate of $4,000-$6,000. Made around 1870, the highly embellished table was the property of a New York family.
Topping the silver section of the sale was a late 19th-century Chinese Export silver tea caddy that more than tripled its $3,000-$5,000 estimate, selling for $18,900. Made by Lee Ching of Hong Kong, Canton and Shanghai, the tea caddy featured an engraved heraldic crest and bore the artisan’s mark of Quan. Quan was a silversmith working in Canton between 1860-1900 and is regarded as the finest maker of silver boxes and tea caddies. Double tea caddies of this size are rare, and this piece may have been a bespoke order.
Doyle’s May 3 auction of American Paintings & Prints saw lively competition from bidders coast to coast, as well as from trans-Atlantic collectors. Showcased were 19th- and 20th-century paintings, including fine examples of nautical paintings and portraiture; Hudson River, Western and regional landscapes; and still lifes, in addition to Audubon, Currier & Ives and topographical prints.
Highlighting the sale was a circa-1885 view of Cliffs off Grand Manan Island by Alfred Thompson Bricher that achieved $44,100, exceeding its estimate of $15,000-$25,000. Property from a prominent private collection, the coastal view depicted a dream-like image of Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick province, Canada.
From the same private collection came two American naval scenes by British artists that far surpassed their estimates. A depiction titled H.M.S. Bristol and Squadron Returns to the New York Narrows … by Tim Franklin Ross Thompson, estimated at $5,000-$7,000, sold for $18,900, and a view titled March 9 1862 – U.S.S. Monitor – U.S.S. Minnesota – C.S.S. Virginia by Louis Dodd, estimated at $1,500-$2,500, sold for $16,300.
Topping a group of Florida and Caribbean paintings was a tropical seaside view titled In the Bahamas by Anthony Thieme that surpassed its estimate, selling for $31,500.
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