Studio glass at the fore of Heritage’s April 16 Design Auction  

DALLAS – Exceptional furniture and objects by renowned international artists and designers, including rare and important studio glass sculptures by such masters as Dale Chihuly and William Morris, are expected to be among the most heavily pursued lots in Heritage Auctions’ Design Auction April 16. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

William Morris’ blown and sandblasted glass Artifact Series #9 (Burial) comes from the collection of Stephane Janssen in Carefree, Arizona. It includes 28 elements, including 26 glass bone fragments, skulls and horns emerging from two large vessels (above; est. $25,000-$35,000).

Among the contenders for top-lot honors is Paul Evans’ 1967 Unique Cabinet (est. $50,000-$75,000). This welded, gilt and enameled steel cabinet (below), with wood and electrical lighting, is being offered by the original owner.

The auction also includes an extraordinary collection of rare studio furniture by American designers, including:

—Arthur Espenet Carpenter rare set of six wishbone armchairs, 1980, (est. $30,000-$50,000). Carpenter, who worked under the name “Espenet,” was a self-taught master woodworker in San Francisco, California, with strong ties to the postwar American Studio Furniture Movement and California Roundover Style. The walnut chairs, with brown leather straps interwoven in the seat and with brass grommets, are 30½ inches tall, and each is incised “Espenet/ 8010/ 2” to the underside. The chairs (below) were commissioned by the consignor directly from Espenet.

—A 2002 Sam Maloof custom rocking chair ($25,000-$35,000) stands 47½ inches high and is incised “No. 30/ 2002/ Sam Maloof @ d.f.a. r.i.s.d., M.J., L.W., D.W.” to the underside of the seat.

—Arthur Espenet Carpenter’s 1977 unique double-trunk table (est. $15,000-$20,000) measures 85½ inches long and is done in genisaro wood with ebony inlay. This table is unique to Espenet’s repertoire, in that it deviates from the traditional rectilinear form with its well-figured and unusual double-trunk slab of genisaro, a species of mahogany with texture in between bamboo and walnut that frequently is used by furniture makers in El Salvador. Like the wishbone armchairs, this table was commissioned by the consignor directly from the artist.

—Mira Nakashima’s 2005 monumental custom large bench (est. $15,000-$25,000) measures 154½ inches long and is part of a group of pieces commissioned in 2005 by the Hyatt Corp. for a new national headquarters in Chicago, in which traditional, sanitized office décor was eschewed in favor of more comfortable, intimate and warm furniture.

—Another top offering from Nakashima is a 2005 custom Minguren II dining table (est. $15,000-$20,000) measures 120 inches long and is signed and dated in permanent marker on the underside. While traditional Japanese woodworking includes complex and perfected joinery and the artisan’s acceptance and strengthening of the wood’s whorls and flaws, the butterfly joints in this suite celebrate the natural beauty of the trees used by stabilizing the inclusions and age-related cracks, allowing the tree to flourish in this new stage of life.

—Dale Chihuly’s 1988 Large Cobalt Blue Form with Orange Persians (est. $15,000-$20,000) measures 31½ by 14½ by 19 inches. Done in studio glass, it includes the elongated, stemmed blue form with green lip wrap, with six smaller orange Persians with blue lip wraps, and also is from the Stephane Janssen Collection.

The auction includes a collection of drawings by iconic American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, including drawings of the Dr. & Mrs. Paul V. Palmer House, Phoenix, Arizona, (24 works): est. $5,000-$7,000.