KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Portraits proved to be among the most sought-after lots at the Winter Case Antiques Auction, held Jan. 24 at the company’s gallery in Knoxville. The top selling lot was a 1963 oil on canvas portrait by noted Knoxville-born African-American artist, Beauford Delaney (1901-1979), of his mother, Delia, which soared to $48,380 (est. $12,000-14,000) amid competition from local and East Coast bidders.
LiveAuctioneers.com provided absentee and Internet live bidding. According to LiveAuctioneers.com, the auction attracted more than 2,200 approved registered bidders, making it the site’s most active auction for the month of January in terms of unique bidder registrations.
A second Delaney painting, a face painted on a pillowcase during the late 1950s, when the artist lived in Paris but was too poor to buy canvas, hammered for $24,180 to a private collector. It is one of a handful of Delaney works painted on nontraditional supports (another such work, painted on a raincoat, was featured in a traveling exhibit of his work organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 2005-2006). All prices in this report include the buyer’s premium.
Several antique portraits fared well too. A pair of circa 1830 oils by President Andrew Jackson’s favorite portrait painter, Ralph E. W. Earl (1788-1838), depicting the president’s close friends, the Rev. Hardy Murfree Cryer and Mrs. Cryer, sold for $24,780 against a $6,800-$8,400 estimate. A miniature portrait depicting Montgomery County, Alabama Judge Benajah Smith Bibb, painted the same period, doubled its high estimate at $3,422. It was signed by English/American artist Hugh Bridport (1794-1868), and was one of several items being sold from the private museum of the late Judge George Greene of Phenix City, Alabama. A large, unsigned, late 18th century portrait of an English military officer, in the manner of Thomas Hudson, attracted considerable overseas interest but ultimately hammered to an American buyer for $7,316 (est. $2,000-$3,000). A portrait of a lady in the manner of Thomas Sully, with South Carolina provenance, realized $3,224, and a rare engraved image of President James Madison sold to the Montpelier Foundation for $826.
Folk art faces were in demand as well. A wood sculpture collage by Helen Bullard (Tennessee, 1902-1996), composed of 15 carved human faces, and titled Does Anyone Know What Comes Next? – a reference to race relations – earned $2,600 (est. $800-$1,200). A Southern carved stone female bust by an unknown artist, dated 1849, brought $2,596 (est. $1,400-$1,800).
The phone lines were at capacity when a vivid California landscape by Maurice Braun (1877-1941) crossed the block; it tripled its high estimate at $24,780. A landscape by Hermann Herzog (1832-1932), depicting sheep threatened by an approaching storm, realized $22,420, while a pastoral landscape by East Tennessee painter James Wiley Wallace (1852-1921) rested at $4,956. An autumn landscape by Tennessee impressionist Catherine Wiley (1879-1958) sold for $9,440, a seascape by Florida Highwaymen artist A.E. Backus (1906-1991) brought $14,750, and a small (9in x 16in) limestone sculpture of a bird by William Edmondson (1884-1951) flew to $14,160 despite a repaired break to its tailwing.
Case made newspaper headlines in the weeks leading up to the auction for its offering of an archive related to Lt. Dabney Scales of the CSS Shenandoah, a Civil War Navy ship whose crew became the last Confederates to surrender on Nov. 6, 1865. After the war, Scales went on to become a Tennessee state senator. His diary chronicling events on board the Shenandoah sailed to $19,470 (est. $10,000-$12,000). The Tennessee State Museum paid the same price for Scales’ photo album featuring more than 30 CDV images, many of them identified Confederate Naval officers. An 1863 Scales diary, accompanied by his 1860 ship practice log, fetched $8,946. The World War I archive of Scales’ son, George, including his pilot’s aviator uniform and related documents and photographs, flew to $2,232 (est. $700-$900). An archive of early East Tennessee slave documents, discovered by Case in a hidden cavity of a blanket chest consigned for auction, was divided into two lots, which brought $2,124 and $1,652 respectively. Also discovered in the chest was a Civil War letter archive relating to E.S. Cassady of the Georgia 9th, including his ambrotype. It rallied to $5,456. The chest, meanwhile, sold for a modest $295. (Look for more documents from the cache to be sold in Case’s July 18 auction).
The paper category was hot overall: an Andrew Jackson signed document approving the sale of land in Alabama by a Creek Indian to a white settler doubled its estimate at $2,832, the same price paid for a Revolutionary War and early 1800s account book relating to early Middle Tennessee settler Gen. James Winchester. A 1799 map of Tennessee brought $1,416, and a pair of 17th century maps by Gerard Mercator, depicting America and the Straits of Magellan, charted $4,712.
An East Tennessee vine-and-fan-inlaid Federal chest of drawers led the furniture category at $19,470, while a sugar chest in the form of a miniature sideboard, from the estate of Bertha Wright of Kentucky’s famed Calumet Horse Farm, served up $6,844. A Tennessee sugar chest of traditional form with turned legs sold for $4,484, the same price as a Kentucky two-part Jackson Press; an East Tennessee walnut chest of drawers with provenance relating to a Revolutionary War soldier reached $4,956, and a Southern blanket chest on tall turned legs brought $2,242. A Mid-Atlantic smoke decorated blanket chest doubled expectations at $1,770.
Southern pottery has a strong following at Case. Multiple bidders chased an East Tennessee redware jar with manganese splotches to $17,110 (est. $4,500-$5,500). A double-handled stoneware jar by N.H. Dixon of North Carolina, which descended in the family of the potter, sold for $3,422, while a Georgia or Alabama alkaline glazed jar with illegible script decoration wrote up $1,534. A rock-teethed face jug by Lanier Meaders of Georgia earned $1,003, and a Southwestern Native American acoma olla with polychrome geometric design, measuring 10-1/2in high, brought five times its estimate at $4,484.
Featured in this auction were 60 lots of Southern coin silver, collected over a lifetime by John Montague of Memphis. Case signed on as a co-sponsor of the Natchez Antiques Forum to help promote the collection, and it appeared to pay off. A plain water pitcher bearing the mark of Samuel Cockrell of Natchez, Mississippi, brought $2,950, while a smaller cream jug marked for Emile Profilet of Natchez brought almost as much at $2,714. A Natchez fish slice by George McPherson served up $1,770. A New Orleans coin silver repoussé pitcher by Adolph Himmel brought $4,012, while a ladle by early New Orleans silversmith Pierre Lamothe hit $2,478, and a set of 12 coin silver dessert spoons by Samuel Bell of Knoxville, Tennessee, rang up a strong $3,068. Other silver standouts included a set of four George III sterling candlesticks by William Cafe, $8,732 (est. $2,400-$3,400), and a 169-piece set of Kirk Repoussé pattern sterling flatware, $4,720.
It was a good day for jewelry, with several lots bringing within or well above estimate. A GIA certified 3.10-carat round diamond solitaire ring sparkled at $16,250, while a 2.02-carat diamond ring with guard brought $7,688, and an 18K Patek Philippe men’s pocketwatch, circa 1916 with original paperwork, ticked to $4,956.
This auction contained an above-average number of French decorative arts. Highlights included a Napoleon III French inlaid commode with bronze mounts stamped for Victor Paillard of Paris, $14,260; a French Empire period giltwood and marble pedestal, $5,900 (est. $500-600); and a French gilt bronze and champlevé enamel clock and garniture, retailed by Tiffany, $8,680.
There were more bidders participating from China than any country except the United States, and most were bidding online. Highlights included a large Chinese Export silver bowl pierced with dragon and cloud designs, which roared to $14,750, and a 10-piece Chinese Export silver tea service, $4216. A framed silk Buddha-themed Tibetan thangka surprised at $6,136 (est. $600-$800), while two pairs of Ming period framed silk embroideries with figures and dragons executed in metallic threads brought $10,416 ($5,208 apiece) and a Qing Yixing teapot with animal finial made $3,596.
“This sale exceeded our high estimate, and was one of our most successful to date,” said company president John Case. “The 20th century art and historical document categories, in particular, were very active and we look forward to offering more outstanding pieces in these and other categories in the year to come.”
The company is currently accepting consignments for a Spring Asian, Silver and Jewelry specialty auction and its Summer Fine and Decorative Arts auction. Inquiries may be directed to the company’s Knoxville Gallery (865-558-3033) or Nashville office (615-812-6096), or info@caseantiques.com.
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