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A pair of Huanghuali hunting chairs, which sold for $26,880, flanks a Huanghuali two-door cupboard, which hit $2,800. Image courtesy of Finney’s Auction Service.

Huanghuali hunting chairs capture $26,880 bid at Finney’s

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
A pair of Huanghuali hunting chairs, which sold for $26,880, flanks a Huanghuali two-door cupboard, which hit $2,800. Image courtesy of Finney’s Auction Service.
A pair of Huanghuali hunting chairs, which sold for $26,880, flanks a Huanghuali two-door cupboard, which hit $2,800. Image courtesy of Finney’s Auction Service.

SCHODACK, N.Y. – A beautiful pair of Chinese Huanghuali folding hunting chairs sold for $26,880 at an estate auction conducted by Finney’s Auction Service on June 12. The chairs, with woven hemp seats and brass trim, were the top lot from the estate of the late Dr. Kevin-John McIntyre. The sale took place in Finney’s spacious gallery at 1568 Columbia Turnpike, about 15 minutes from Albany.

Huanghuali is a Chinese term that literally means yellow flowering pear wood. It is a member of the rosewood family. Most Huanghuali furniture was manufactured from the mid-Ming dynasty to the late Qianlong dynasty. Over time, the material needed to make Huanghuali pieces disappeared. What survives today is highly prized by collectors.

Over the course of McIntyre’s rich and distinguished life, he amassed impressive collections of Oriental antiquities, European art, nautical items and rare antiques. All of these were auctioned without reserve.

“By any measure, this sale was a success,” said Sharon Finney of Finney’s Auction Service. “We had 118 on-site registered bidders, 150 phone bidders and 189 people registered to bid online, via LiveAuctioneers.com. Bids poured in literally from around the world. The items included Asian furniture and artifacts, telescopes, scientific items, early maps, erotica and art.”

McIntyre’s career included stints as senior vice president of The Discovery Channel-Asia, university professor, Foreign Service diplomat, documentary filmmaker and authority on Asian culture. He wrote and produced a six-part film series titled Artifacts, which detailed the history of porcelain, calligraphy, architecture, metallurgy, wood block printing and silk in Asia.

Following are additional highlights from the auction. All prices quoted include a 12 percent buyer’s premium.

Other Huanghuali pieces included a glass-top table 86 inches long, with eight round-leg chairs, two with arms, $10,800; an altar table with two drawers, $1,344; a canted display cabinet with two small drawers under the shelf, $3,920; a Ming hoof-foot day bed, $3,080; a two-door cupboard with brass back plate and dragon figures, $2,800; and a design cabinet, $2,240.

A pair of circa 1725 celestial and terrestrial globes went for $4,480. The globes, each measuring 20 inches tall, came with mahogany stands and a travel log from 1925, when repair work was done. The stands were circa 1967. A cartouche on the globe read “By B. Martin, Fleet Street.” Also, an early 1700s armillary sphere on a wood turned base also gaveled for $4,480.

An original oil on canvas landscape painting by the French artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), 7 1/2 inches by 11 inches, signed by the artist and housed in a gilt frame, rose to $5,040, while an oil on canvas painting by English landscape artist Sidney Percy (1821-1886), titled Grazing and measuring 14 inches by 20 inches, signed and framed, commanded $4,760.

An 1854 oil on board painting of a field landscape by the American painter William Stanley Haseltine (1835-1900), signed, 13 inches by 15 1/2 inches, housed in a gilt frame, climbed to $2,520. Also, an early painting of a Chinese seaport topped out at $3,640, and an embroidered Chinese silk panel, circa 1785, titled Long Pao, 83 inches by 62 inches, framed, sold for $1,400.

A late Ming dynasty Jing du Jiang blue and white bowl, 16 inches in diameter, made $4,760; a 16-inch Oriental vase with peacocks and birds, $2,520; a 12-inch Asian blue and white floral vase, $3,080; and a blue and white Oriental lamp, 14 inches in height, with six character marks, $3,920.

One lot consisting of a framed jade Kang cylinder, circa 550 B.C., a jade bi disk, Nephrite, circa 950 B.C., and a Kang cylinder, circa A.D. 720, together hammered for $1,400. Also, a chronometer pocket watch by Ulysses Nordin, numbered on the face (124598), in a gorgeous presentation wood box, wowed the crowd before selling for a respectable $4,144.

Finney’s Auction Service’s next big sale is tentatively slated for September, with a date and time still to be determined.

For details and updates visit Finney’s Web site: www.finneysauction.com or call 518-479-4371.

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

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Glass-top Huanghuali table, 86 inches long, with eight round-leg chairs, two with arms: $10,800. Image courtesy of Finney’s Auction Service.
Glass-top Huanghuali table, 86 inches long, with eight round-leg chairs, two with arms: $10,800. Image courtesy of Finney’s Auction Service.

Oriental vase, 16 inches tall, with peacocks and birds decoration: $2,520. Image courtesy of Finney’s Auction Service.
Oriental vase, 16 inches tall, with peacocks and birds decoration: $2,520. Image courtesy of Finney’s Auction Service.

Early painting of a Chinese seaport: $3,640. Image courtesy of Finney’s Auction Service.
Early painting of a Chinese seaport: $3,640. Image courtesy of Finney’s Auction Service.