OAKLAND, Calif. – On Sunday, Nov. 10, Clars Auction Gallery will bring to market an extraordinary offering of investment-level fine art, decorative arts, furnishings, jewelry and Asian antiques and art. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Featured at the sale will be one of the finest works by Eugène de Blaas (Austrian/Italian, 1843-1932) titled, The Proposal. This lovely oil on canvas depicting a young man asking for his lady’s hand in marriage is estimated at $200,000-$300,000. Other impressive works by the following European artists will also be offered: Emilio Grau Sala, Jean Jansem, Albert Rieger, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Peder Mönsted, Charles H. van den Eycken, Robert Julius Beyschlag and Constantin Westchilof.
Important American artists will also be highlighted such as The Black Kimono by William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916). Originally from Chase’s personal collection, this grand portrait from his Kimono Series, which spans his period from the late 19th century through 1910, will be offered for $60,000 to $80,000. A spectacular painting by Louisiana artist Joseph Rusling Meeker (American, 1827-1889) titled Near the Atchafalaya, 1853, is estimated at $40,000 to $60,000.
California artists will have a very prominent presence in this sale beginning with an impressive painting of Yosemite by Thomas Hill (1829-1908). Hill’s dramatic style captures one of America’s most majestic sites in this painting—and was once part of the DeYoung Museum’s collection in San Francisco. The painting carries a $15,000-$25,000 estimate. A lovely rural scene by Maurice Braun (1877-1941) titled The Farm in Autumn will also be featured. The beautiful, seasonal palette of this composition is estimated at $12,000 to $18,000. Works by other notable artists such as Charles Sumner Price, Percy Gray, James Weeks, Hermann Herzog, Granville Redmond, William Pierce Stubbs, Antonio Jacobsen, Frederick MacMonnies, Robert Wood and Louis Comfort Tiffany will also be offered.
For photography collectors an impressive collection of works by Ansel Adams will be offered with provenance of equally impressive note. To commemorate their 100th anniversary in 1954, the American Trust Co. commissioned Adams to undertake a major historical project that consisted of photographing scenes of Northern California. This project cumulated into a book published by the American Trust Co., with text by Nancy Newhall, titled, The Pageant of History in Northern California, and consisted of 60 photographs by Ansel Adams printed on glossy paper. Clars Auction Gallery will present 18 photographs printed from the negatives of this landmark project taken by Adams of scenes ranging from the Golden Gate Bridge to fog looming over the Mendocino Coast. The 18 photographs will be offered as a set, which has a $18,000-$25,000 estimate. Other fine art photographers of note offered alongside the Adams collection will be Richard Avedon, Walker Evans, Bernice Abbott, Imogen Cunningham, Jerry Uelsmann, George Krause and Flor Garduno.
This category will bring to market highly desirable offerings in art glass, fine porcelain, Native American items, exceptional pieces from the Arts & Crafts era as well as exceptional sterling from the finest makers.
In art glass, a signed Daum Nancy vase with the Cross of Loraine, circa 1905, executed in the Art Nouveau taste, will be offered for $3,000 to $5,000. Two offerings from Rene Lalique include a circa 1919 Perruches vase and a Houbigant’s La Belle Saison perfume bottle, circa 1910. Both of these carry estimates of $2,000 to $4,000. In addition, more than 10 Emile Galle Art Nouveau cameo glass examples will be offered.
Turning from Art Nouveau to Arts & Crafts, this period will be richly represented with a selection of Stickley furniture, art pottery and an extraordinary timepiece. A Liberty & Co. Tudric clock by Archibald Knox, circa 1903, will be offered for $4,000 to $6,000. Rounding out this genre will be two Tiffany Studios lamps with shades both carrying an $8,000 to $12,000 estimate plus a rare Tiffany Studios Mermaid lamp base to be offered for $4,000 to $6,000.
Meissen and several Royal Vienna examples will highlight the Continental porcelain offerings with a monumental Royal Vienna urn, topping this group. Executed in hand-painted porcelain with a reserve depicting the portrait of “Unschuld” (Innocence), this urn measures 24 inches high by 16 inches in diameter and is estimated to bring $8,000-$12,000.
The sterling offerings will be exceptional and numbering well over 40 lots. Deaccessioned from the Honolulu Museum of Art is a beautiful Tiffany & Co. Paris sterling-gilt five-piece coffee and tea service estimated to achieve $4,000 to $6,000. A fine grouping of Continental silver beginning with an impressive Austro-Hungarian Renaissance Revival .800 silver 11-light candelabra, 1872-1922, standing 27 inches high, and weighing 15 pounds will be offered for $12,000 to $15,000.
From renowned sterling maker Georg Jensen there will be a Blossom pattern tea service, 1915-1927, (estimate $4,000 to $6,000) and several flatware services, one being a complete service for eight in the Pyramid pattern, with an estimate of $5,000 to $7,000. In addition, there will be two complete S. Kirk & Sons Repoussé and Baltimore Rose pattern services for 12 plus serving pieces.
The Native American collection includes basketry, pottery, totem poles, textiles, beadwork and concho belts. A rare monumental Pomo twined basketry storage bowl, possibly 19th century, having polychrome-decorated repeating geometric reserves, measures 19 inches high by 18 inches diameter by 27 inches wide. Also being offered is a Navajo transitional blanket, late 19th century.
Art Deco design will headline the fine jewelry category with an Art Deco jadeite and platinum ring expected to achieve $20,000, followed by a diamond and platinum bracelet that sports a 2.46-carat old European cut diamond, also estimated at $15,000 to $20,000.
The Asian category will feature a large collection of Chinese furniture including a Qing dynasty Chinese narrow side table (tiao’an) with ruyi head spandrels (estimate $10,000 to $20,000) and a pair of bamboo form horseshoe armchairs said to be made of huanghuali wood. The jade highlight in the auction is a Chinese Mughal-style covered censer carved with flowers in low relief and with an intricately pierced dome lid (estimate: $3,000 to $5,000). Also to be offered is a wide selection of monochrome and enameled ceramics, including a pair of Chinese porcelain bowls finely enameled with poppies from the late Qing/Republic period and bearing a Yongzheng mark (estimate $1,500 to $2,500).
And, when it’s all over, one lucky bidder will drive away in a very cool 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville with only 36,000 original miles. Its high estimate is $25,000.
For more information about Clars’ Nov. 10 fine art and antiques sale call 510-428-0100 or email: info@clars.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
