Calder pheasant struts its stuff at Millea Bros., Nov. 16-18

BOONTON, N.J. – On Wednesday, November 16, Thursday, November 17, and Friday, November 18, Millea Bros. presents its latest Select auction. It will feature art, design and antiques fresh to market from prominent New York area estates, including paintings by Alexander Calder; custom furnishings from a Peter Marino Palm Beach commission; the third and final sale of museum-quality tribal art from the Faith Dorian and Martin Wright Art Trust; and a once-in-a-generation single-owner sale of 18th-century porcelain. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Day 1, November 16, features modern and contemporary art and design, including two Alexander Calder gouaches on paper. Victory, a 1945 work of pure abstraction, dates to Calder’s Constellations series, works in dialog with the famous gouaches by Joan Miro. In contrast, Calder’s The Pheasant from 1969, estimated at $30,000-$50,000, is a light and charming figurative work that captures the joyful exuberance associated with Calder’s later paintings. Both works are registered with the Calder Foundation.

Design highlights include more than 50 pieces of furniture from the aforementioned Peter Marino Palm Beach commission, including an extraordinary circa-1925 Bateau daybed by Jean Dunand, finished in a volcanic copper and gold lacquer. It is estimated at $15,000-$25,000.

Other design highlights include a circa-1935 custom TH Robsjohn-Gibbings Lotus console in marbleized and lacquered carved wood, unmarked but likely produced by Petersen Studios for the Sans Epoque collection, and estimated at $10,000-$15,000.

Interspersed with the modern designs are more than 30 19th-century African and Oceanic artifacts from the Faith Dorian and Martin Wright Art Trust, many with JJ Klejman and museum provenance. Among them is a wooden Mundugumor wusear flute spirit figure from the East Sepik, Yuat River region of Papua New Guinea, estimated at $800-$1,200.

Day 2, on November 17, includes more than 50 pieces of ancient to antique Chinese objects from the collection of Lewis Stein. One of the original SOHO artist pioneers, Stein amassed a formidable collection of Asian artifacts during the course of four decades, as well as a reputation for scholarly connoisseurship. Highlights from the Stein collection include a four-inch-tall early Ming-era wood carved Guanyin seated on a Buddhist lion, estimated at $2,500-$3,500. Only a handful of similar examples have come to market, with near identical carvings in the Met and other museum collections.

A single-owner collection of 18th-century English porcelain includes figural, center and serving pieces by Chelsea, Dr. Wall Worcester, Derby and Bow. Assembled in the 1920s and 1930s, the collection has remained in the same family for two generations. A standout is a circa-1755 Hans Sloane dish by Chelsea, estimated at $1,000-$1,500.

Day 3, on November 18, features Continental Art & Antiques including the remainder of Millea Bros’ porcelain sale from 565 Park Avenue in New York City. This Continental porcelain group includes 10 pieces of the earliest Bottger and Hausmaler Meissen dating to the start of the 18th century, as well as early pieces of Mennecy, St. Cloud, Delft and Doccia. Notable among this group is a circa-1720 Hausmaler Meissen silver-mounted teapot, estimated at $800-$1,200.

Rounding out the offerings on the third and final day of the auction are artworks such as period Durer engravings deaccessioned from the Albertina Museum, Vienna; and also post-Impressionist lithographs by artists including Degas, Matisse and Toulouse-Lautrec. This last is represented by Aux Ambassadeurs, an 1894 lithograph in colors estimated at $2,000-$3,000.

For further information, please visit milleabros.com or call 973-377-1500.

 

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