Crescent City Auction features famous Southern names Jan. 27-28

NEW ORLEANS – Original paintings by renowned Southern artist William Aiken Walker, a mug and a vase by the “Mad Potter of Biloxi” George Ohr, and a five-piece Mexican sterling silver coffee and tea service are several of the top lots in Crescent City Auction Gallery’s Winter Estates Auction on Jan. 27-28. Absentee and Internet bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

The major two-day sale will present 1,185 lots will cross the auction block, including French and American period furniture, original artwork, fine estate jewelry, Russian icons, bronzes, silver, clocks, pottery and lamps and lighting.

South Carolina artist William Aiken Walker (1838-1921) has been featured in past Crescent City auctions. His 19th-century oil on board titled Cabin Scene (above), signed lower left and measuring 8 ¾ inches by 11 ¾ inches, has an estimate of $12,000-$15,000. Walker is best known for his depictions of sharecroppers in the post-Reconstruction American South.

Another featured artist, Louisiana folk artist William “Bill” Hemmerling (1943-2009), painted the New Orleans 2005 Jazz Festival poster and was a perennial favorite of Jazz Fest art aficionados. He was prolific, and his legions of fans are nothing less than devout. His signed 2007 acrylic on panel titled Boiled Peanuts, 37 ½ inches by 10 ¾ inches, is expected to sell for $4,000-$7,000.

George Ohr (1857-1918) was another one of the region’s more colorful and eccentric characters, an American ceramic artist whose innovative experimentation with modern clay forms at his Biloxi studio led to his being regarded as a precursor to the American Abstract-Expressionist movement. Today, his pieces are rare and highly coveted by collectors. Two are in the auction (below).

One is a mug, fired in 1896 of high glaze waisted form, 6 ¼ inches tall, with the side having an inscribed presentation for Joseph Jefferson. The other is a high glaze bottle form, made circa 1897 and with the bottom inscribed “Jules Gabry, First Place, July 1897,” the side inscribed “Jules Gabry Born in France 1829 Suiside (sic) in Biloxis Water, Poverty cause, July 15, 1897,” and signed “G Ohrs.” Both have estimates of $1,500-$2,500. Gabry was Newcomb College’s first potter (1894-1895) and was living with the Ohr family when he committed suicide.

The Mexican sterling silver coffee and tea service by Maciel was made in the mid-20th century and has a total weight of 176.83 troy ounces (est. $3,000-$5,000). The tray is 18 inches in diameter.

The jewelry in the auction is a dazzling assemblage of tanzanites, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, alexandrite, emeralds, South Sea pearls, Victorian bracelets and other fine pieces.

The list of original artworks by local and regional artists is also impressive and will be led by a circa 1970 oil on board painting by Louisiana folk artist Clementine Hunter (1887-1988), titled Cotton Pickers (est. $3,000-$5,000).

Offerings from Tiffany Studios will feature a circa-1900 bronze desk lamp, 11 ¾ inches tall, expected to breeze to $2,000-$3,000; and an early 20th-century Favrile glass vase, 6 ¼ inches tall (est. $500-$700).

A stellar collection of Russian icons will include The Virgin of Kazan (Moscow, 1893, by Ivan Khlebnikov); The Virgin of Kazan (Moscow, late 19th century, also by Ivan Khlebnikov); Christ Pantocrator (Moscow, circa 1908-1917); and St. Vladimir (Moscow, made circa 1908-1917).

For details contact Crescent City Auction Gallery at 504-529-5057 or info@crescentcityauctiongallery.com.