The first hunting dog painting by Rosseau was A Tripple Point: Bob, Prince and Ned 1924. The oil on canvas featured two dogs, Bob and Ned, that were favorites of railroad industrialist Samuel G. Allen, Rosseau’s benefactor and quail hunting partner. Signed lower right, the painting opened at its $35,000 reserve and sold within estimate to a phone bidder for $46,000 (all selling prices include a 15 percent buyer’s premium).
A few moments later, Rosseau’s End of a Perfect Day, Allen’s Flag and Queen, 1923 did even better. The signed oil on canvas opened at its $40,000 reserve and sold within estimate for $75,000.
The dog in A.B. Frost’s watercolor Summer Woodcock was unnamed, but that detail did not keep bidders from this remarkable painting. Scribners used this original watercolor for its series Shooting Pictures published in 1895. The 14” X 22” watercolor opened at $12,000 and sold to the phones for $55,200. A.B. Frost was noted for his illustrations for authors Joel Chandler Harris and Lewis Carroll and for Life magazine.
The star of the two-day auction emerged four lots later. Unlike Percival Rosseau, Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) had no trouble painting men or women. Two of his lifelong friends, Milton Teel and Maine fisherman Walt Anderson posed for Shore Pine, his 1939 watercolor over pencil on paper. The painting was a gift to the consignor in 1955 and has been in a private collection ever since. The $60,000 opening bid was followed by vigorous telephone, absentee, Internet and floor bidding. Shore Pine sold for $117,300 (est. $60,000/$90,000).
Southern furniture was especially plentiful at the September sale and finished strong. Two full pages in the 336-page catalog were devoted to a very fine Southern desk and bookcase from Charleston, S.C., in the late 18th century. The 70 1/2” X 43 1/4” X 23 1/4” desk bookcase was distinguished by its elaborate inlay and highly figured mahogany veneers. Its feet were fully inlaid, a rarity in extant 18th century Charleston case goods. The desk bookcase opened at its $50,000 reserve and sold within estimate for $86,250. The consignor, York Place, a residential treatment facility for children and adolescents in York, S.C., was founded as an orphanage in Charleston in 1850. The proceeds from the sale of the desk/bookcase will help the nonprofit continue to serve young people in need of psychiatric hospitalization.
Inlays were delicate and elaborate on a single-case construction corner cupboard attributed to Shenandoah County, Va., 1800-1820. Its broken-arch pediment, tympanum, paneled doors, pilasters and skirt were all inlaid. The 93 1/2” X 51” X 23 1/4“walnut and yellow pine cupboard had descended in the Scott family of Virginia and was photographed for Antiques, The Magazine in 1954. The cupboard opened quickly at its $10,000 reserve. It sold to a Southern collector in the gallery for $35,650 (est. $15,000/$25,000).
In the top section of a walnut chest attributed to Rowan County, N.C., are two short drawers and one single deep drawer with false double front. Two long drawers were below. The 1800-1820 chest rested on a frame with shaped skirt, cabriole legs and trefid feet. It opened at $5000 and sold for $19,550 (est. $5000/$10,000).
It was hard to overlook the Herter Brothers inlaid cabinet from the 1870s. At 87 1/4” wide, it commanded the back left of the auction gallery. With original gilt and ebonized surface, a painted and gilt classical figure in the cabinet doors, pierced skirt, boldly carved paw feet and an impressed “Herter Bro’s” signature, the cabinet opened at its $12,000 reserve. Its selling price of $69,000 more than doubled the high estimate.
“European furniture has been particularly strong of late,” said Auctioneer Robert Brunk. The best example of that trend was an 18th century Continental Baroque secretary, believed to be Italian. In heavily figured walnut, burlwood and other fruitwood veneers with a single arched and glazed door in the upper case and three serpentine drawers below, it opened at a modest $1000. But it’s how they finish that counts and that was $18,400 (est. $2000/$4000).
In 2003, an 18th-century table with a micro-mosaic top by Giacomo Raffaelli (1753-1836) sold at Brunk Auctions for a record $400,000. At the September sale, Brunk offered another Raffaelli, a micro-mosaic bird in a tree. “It was an exceptional object,” said Robert Brunk. Signed, dated (1793) and inscribed, the tiny (2-5/8” diameter) framed bird opened at $2000 and sold for $10,350 (est. $3000/$6000).
For the past two years, some of the seemingly lesser Chinese and Japanese lots have attracted bidders willing to pay prices that are far above expectations. Two cases in the September sale validated that trend. A Chinese 48” X 27” textile panel from the 18th or 19th century with an estimate of $400-$800 sold for $9200. The panel was one of 12 Chinese items consigned by the estate of Florence Ueltzen of Fort Mill, S.C., Ueltzen was the owner of Fu-Ming-Fair, a Camp Hill, Pa, retail shop. An 11 1/2” Yuhuchunping cobalt blue porcelain vase from the Chinese, Guangxu period (1875-1908) that was expected to bring $2000/$4000 sold for $25,300.
The two-day, 1473-lot sale grossed $2.33 million including buyer’s premium. For more information, visit www.brunkauctions.com or call 828-254-6846.
Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
