Nye & Co. Auctioneers to hoist maritime art Sept. 25

BLOOMFIELD, N.J. – Nye & Company Auctioneers’ Estate Treasures Sale on Tuesday, Sept. 25, will showcase a broad and diverse group of fine and decorative arts, featuring property from the Westervelt Corp., the NAMITS Collection and several private collections from Long Island. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

“The sale includes a nice group of maritime art comprised of paintings, models and instruments,” said Andrew Holter of Nye & Company Auctioneers, adding, “There is also a fine selection of garden statuary, which will delight even the most seasoned landscape enthusiast. Collectors, trade and institutions alike should be pleased with the depth and breadth of these fine offerings.”

In all, 600 lots will come up for bid, starting at 10 a.m. Eastern time.

Maritime art of the two-dimensional variety will feature an oil on canvas painting attributed to Samuel Walters (British, 1811-1882), titled Mary Moore (above), measuring 33½ inches by 51½ inches (est. $1,500-$3,000). Walters was one of the brightest lights of the Liverpool School of marine art. He excelled in all facets of marine painting, but was most accomplished in ship portraiture.

The maritime art will feature a late 19th- or early 20th-century American cased diorama of a shipyard, 5 feet 5 inches long and 19½ inches wide ($3,000-$5,000); a carved maple figural sculpture of three sailors, by Adlai S. Hardin (1901-1989), 37 inches tall by 45 inches wide (est. $1,500-$3,000); and a late 19th- or early 20th-century cased hull model of the Scottish ship Dechmont, mounted on a metal stand, 54 inches tall by 79¾ inches wide (est. $2,000-$4,000).

A highly detailed 19th-century model of an Asian man selling baskets, with additional baskets and displays, 24½ inches tall by 26½ inches wide (est. $300-$500); while an artist proof lithograph of Liz Taylor by Sylvia Robert, mounted with crystals and signed and numbered (“Robert / D&D / 3/50”) on verso, measuring 38½ inches by 27½ inches (est. $400-$600).

A pair of limestone figural groups, one signed by H. (Henri Leon) Greber (Floriday, 19th/20th century) and, according to tradition, commissioned in 1905 by the landscape architects Guy Lowell and Charles Singer Sargeant for the 500-acre garden of Harbor Hill, an estate home in Roslyn, Long Island, should bring $8,000-$12,000. The home was designed by Stanford White for Clarence Hungerford Mackay, a Wall Street financier. The figures are 41 inches tall and 57 inches wide.

An Italian carved marble well head, circa the 19th century, 37 inches tall by 30 inches wide, has an estimate of $7,000-$10,000. Also, a Tiffany Studios cast bronze crab inkwell with an oyster shell lid, stamped and numbered and showing an early Tiffany company logo, is expected to command $5,000-$10,000; and a late 19th-century American cast-iron architectural element depicting Diana the Huntress, on a later stand, 28½ inches tall, should sell for $1,500-$3,000.

The furniture category will be led by a mid-18th-century English George II mahogany wall cabinet in two parts, having upper drawers fitted with cutlery dividers, 6 feet 8 inches tall by (est. $1,500-$3,000); a late 20th-century American walnut platform bed with inset grass Tatami mats, attributed to Mira Nakashima, 6 feet in width by 7 feet 5 inches in length (est. $1,000-$2,000); and a late 18th-century French or Italian Neoclassical parquetry commode (est. $3,000-$5,000).