ATLANTA – A 1991 mixed media painting by Thornton Dial (American, 1928-2016) titled Struggling Tiger sold for $84,700, and a Tiffany Studios favrile glass door from the 1920s titled The Sower, brought $51,425 to take top lot honors in Ahlers & Ogletree’s New Year’s Signature Estates Auction held January 14-16.
The Thornton Dial painting – full title Struggling Tiger (The Tiger Penned In) – achieved the fifth-highest auction record for a work by Dial and the highest record outside of a New York auction. Dial came into prominence in the 1980s. Ten of his paintings were acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2014.
The Tiffany Studios leaded and plated favrile glass panel-in-oak door was the auction’s expected top lot, with a robust pre-sale estimate of $50,000-$100,000. It was originally commissioned by Melville Dewey as one of two doors to be installed in the Annie Dewey Memorial Chapel in Lake Placid, New York, in 1923, and dedicated to Dr. W.G. Russell. Offered in the sale was the left door, showing a figure of a woman as The Sower.
Other items that performed well in the three-day, three-session sale – Ahlers & Ogletree’s first major auction event of 2022 – include a colorless crystal Lalique Cactus center table designed in France by Marc Lalique. It was expected to change hands for $20,000-$30,000, but it hit $36,300. It featured a round glass top, chrome support and a frosted base.
A circa 1874-1876 Renaissance Revival ebonized and holly (or satinwood) accented cabinet secretary desk by the Wooten Desk Company, previously owned by the President of Uruguay, rose to $37,200, and a signed and dated 1993 walnut rocking chair with ebony accents by Sam Maloof (American, 1916-2009) realized $21,780.
An opalescent koi glass mosaic in a patinated copper dragonfly relief Art Nouveau frame created in 1995 by American artist Steven Stelz, titled Koi Pond with Lily Pads, sold for $19,360. Also, two large allegorical porcelain figures by Meissen, depicting Day and Night and originally modeled by Heinrich Schwabe (1847-1924), achieved $11,160.
A marble mythological figural statue by Cesare Lapini (Italian, 1848-1893), titled Standing Female Nude, realized $31,000. In addition, a large pair of late 19th- or early 20th-century Chinese rose medallion floor vases, each with a flared neck, dragon handles and panels depicting floral and court scenes with gilded accents, finished at $30,250.
An oil on canvas painting by Willard Leroy Metcalf (American, 1858-1925), titled The Barn Door, left the room for $37,200, while an oil on canvas laid on board by Harold Newton (American, 1934-1994), one of the renowned Florida Highwaymen artists, titled Dusk, Florida Marsh, achieved $18,600.
Ahlers & Ogletree is always seeking quality consignments for future auctions. To consign an item, an estate or a collection, call 404-869-2478 or email consign@AandOauctions.com.
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