German sculptor Edwin Scharff’s statue of actress Anni Mewes was discovered earlier this year. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. BERLIN (AP) – Nearly a dozen sculptures considered by the Nazis to be “degenerate” artwork and believed to have been lost or destroyed after World War II have been unearthed during construction near Berlin’s city hall and were shown to reporters Monday.
The terra-cotta and bronze statues were found during a dig to lay down a new subway line. They belonged to a collection of 15,000 works condemned by Hitler’s regime for containing “deviant” sexual elements, anti-nationalistic themes or criticizing Nazi ideology.
The sculptures mainly depict women – a woman holding grapes, a mother and her child, a full-figured woman stretching – the other three are of males.
Ten of the pieces will go on display Tuesday in Berlin’s Neues Museum. One, a male terra-cotta head, is too fragile for display.
Construction workers found the art on the site of an office building that burned down in the summer of 1944, Museum Director Matthias Wemhoff told reporters Monday. The fire started in the roof, burning the building from the top down.
“Each floor fell onto the next and everything that couldn’t be burnt collected at the bottom in the basement,” including the sculptures, he said. Judging from the placement and damage of the works, they had been stored in an office before the fire, Wemhoff said. Whether the collection also included wooden or canvas works is anyone’s guess, he said.
One of the pieces, an Edwin Scharff statue of the actress Anni Mewes, was found in January but thought to be unique. Subsequent digs in August and October, however, turned up the remaining pieces.
While Nazi’s often attributed the “deviant” characteristics of degenerate art to Jewish corruption, only two Jews were among the avant-garde artists who created the sculptures on display.
Otto Freundlich, whose large, elongated 1925 terra-cotta statue of a man’s head was left partially standing, was murdered in the concentration camp Lublin-Maidanek in 1943. Naum Slutzky, a member of the Bauhaus school, fled to England in 1933, where he taught art and lived until his death in 1965. His work Female Bust, was originally a glinting bronze, but has been left only partially restored to reflect the damage of time and fire.
Berlin’s Mayor Klaus Wowereit, said that finding the sculptures is a “small miracle” for the German capital that “shows a lot about the dark times of the city.”
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Daum Nancy Martele French cameo vase, 11 inches high. Estimate: $5,000-$6,000. Image courtesy of Dallas Auction Gallery.
DALLAS – Antique and fine art collectors have the opportunity to bid on over 66 pieces of rare Daum Nancy French Cameo glass all from a local Dallas estate, fine jewelry, a collection of Sayed Haider Raza watercolors, a Tibetan carved Rhino Horn, a Fan Zeng watercolor scroll, and much more on Nov. 17. Bidding is available worldwide through phone bidding, absentee bidding and live on liveauctioneers.com. Dallas Auction Gallery will be open for preview starting Nov. 15. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.
Auction highlights include:
Rare Vaishnava carved rhinoceros horn libation cup. The interior yoni form vessel carved in relief with a four-armed Vishnu crouched on the feathers of his Garuda, both shown on a seated on a lotus blossom. The interior rim carved with a flowing water design. The exterior carved to depict avatars of Vishnu including Matsya, Vamana, Kalki, Parashurama, Rama, and Vahara; the avatars joined by a Garuda at the exterior lip of the vessel. Literature: For similar lot, see Sotheby’s New York sale N08332, lot 66. Original CITES documentation available. Estimate: $100,000-$120,000.
Fan Zeng watercolor scroll depicting a Cao Cao riding a horse and reciting a poem, dated 1980, signed and sealed. (Fan Zeng, Chinese b. 1938). The top portion of the scroll is a poem by Professor Ye Jiaying written in calligraphy by Fan Zeng on Japanese mulberry skin paper, dated 1981, signed and sealed. Presale Estimate: $30,000-$50,000.
Fancy natural yellow diamond ring with GIA report, having a central round brilliant cut natural fancy yellow diamond, 2.43 carats, SI1 clarity, mounted with six marquise and eight round brilliant cut diamonds, 1.30 carats approximate total, I-J color, SI1 clarity, and flanked by 10 round brilliant cut Columbian emeralds, .64 carats approximate total. Stamped, “14K.” 6.1 grams. GIA laboratory report #8451300. Estimate: $9,000-$15,000.
18K gold and diamond engagement/wedding ring having a central round brilliant cut diamond, 2.00 carats, H color, SI2 clarity, flanked by shoulders mounted with alternating rows of round brilliant and tapered baguette diamonds, the 32 round brilliants at .85 carats approximate, F-H color, SI1-2 clarity, the 25 baguettes at .78 carats approximate, F-H color, VVS2 – VS2 clarity. Stamped, “18K750.” 7.6 grams. EGL diamond certificate on 2.00 carat diamond. Estimate: $12,000-$18,000.
Daum Nancy French cameo blow out vase, cylindrical form with blow out mottled glass in the form of green trees, between the trees you see a village and church steeple under a yellow and red sky, signed Daum Nancy, 11 1/2 inches. Literature: for items in similar design see Glass of Art Nouveau the collection of Kitazawa Museum Japan, page 223 plate 300. Estimate: $6,000-$9,000.
Daum Nancy Martele French cameo vase, footed cylindrical from in bright pastel colors decorated with purple stemmed flowers extending from a Art Nouveau cameo foot set on an amber, orange, to rose opalescent background, overall martele finish, 11 inches. Estimate: $5,000.00-$6,000.
Sayed Haider Raza watercolor and pencil on paper, depicting women separating a crop. Paper: 12 inches x 18 1/4. Frame: 18 inches x 22 1/2 inches. Signed lower right, “S.H. Raza.”Sayed Haider Raza (India, b. 1922) known as a colorist and for abstract paintings. Estimate: $15,000-$20,000.
Sayed Haider Raza watercolor and pencil on paper, depicting women picking cotton. Paper: 12 inches x 16 3/4 inchs. Frame: 18 inches x 22 1/4 inches. Signed lower right, “S.H. Raza.” Estimate: $15,000-$20,000.
Sayed Haider Raza watercolor and pencil on paper, titled, Sorting of Palmyra Fibre Tutuicorin. Paper: 12 inches x 18 1/4 inches. Frame: 18 inches x 22 1/4 inches. Signed lower right, “S. H. Raza.” Estimate: $15,000-$20,000.
For more information, please visit www.dallasauctiongallery.com or call 214-653-3900.
Fan Zeng watercolor scroll depicting a Cao Cao riding a horse and reciting a poem, dated 1980, signed and sealed. (Fan Zeng, Chinese b. 1938). Estimate: $30,000-$50,000. Image courtesy of Dallas Auction Gallery. Fancy natural yellow diamond ring with central round brilliant cut natural fancy yellow diamond flanked by 10 round brilliant cut Columbian emeralds. Estimate: $9,000-15,000. Image courtesy of Dallas Auction Gallery. Rare Vaishnava carved rhinoceros horn libation cup. The interior yoni form vessel carved in relief with a four-armed Vishnu crouched on the feathers of his Garuda, both shown on a seated on a lotus blossom. Estimate: $100,000-$120,000. Image courtesy of Dallas Auction Gallery. Daum Nancy French cameo blow out vase, 11 1/2 inches high. Estimate: $6,000-$9,000. Image courtesy of Dallas Auction Gallery. Sayad Haider Raza paiting titled, ‘Sorting of Palmyra Fibre Tutuicorin.’Artist’s sketch on verso. Paper: 12 inches x 18 1/4 inches, signed lower right, ‘S.H. Raza.’ Estimate: $15,000-$20,000. Image courtesy of Dallas Auction Gallery.
This Empire Revival parlor set, circa 1895-1900, is made of solid birch with a "simulated mahogany" finish to match the mahogany veneer in the splats. Turkey Creek Auction photo.
Much has been written in the last few years about fakes in the antiques industry since the “antique factory” in Chilham, Kent, England was revealed to have been turning out furniture in the style of the great cabinetmakers since 1992. The owner of the factory noted that some of his work had been offered by dealers for as much as £525,000, over $850,000 at today’s exchange rates. Noting that he sometimes built pieces from scratch or used an original piece as a blank canvas to enhance with materials from old wardrobes, paneling and planks, he said he would call his works “inventions” or “fakes” – not real antiques as they were described by the dealers who tried to sell them.
A story in April 2008 in the Sunday Times, London described how the “manufacturer” created “period” treasures from “breakers,” old furniture from which to scavenge parts, enhanced with fancy veneers, the right mounts and creative molding and sold them to a favorite dealer. Of course none of this revelation sat well with the legitimate antiques trade or with the British Antique Dealer’s Association, which says an antique should be in “substantially the same condition as when originally made” and “not added to or altered in any material extent.”
So it seems there may degrees of fakery and deception and some fakes are more fake than others. And does motivation figure into it? A well-known case of making a fake in the United States is discussed by Myrna Kaye in her book Fake, Fraud or Genuine? (1990: Little, Brown & Co.). That was the case of a frustrated woodworker who set out to make a fake and make a fool out of a museum. It worked. He made such a convincing 17th-century Pilgrim’s chair in the 1920s that the museum refused to accept it as a fake even after he documented its construction. In that case the fake was created with a personal agenda in mind.
A case where fakery was done simply for the money was an example pointed out by dealer and author David Lindquist in the late 1990s. He revealed that an antique Queen Anne cabinet was in fact a moderately good fake from England. Represented as the real thing the cabinet had sold at auction for $26,000. Had the piece been presented as a newly built reproduction it would have sold in the $8,000 range. The $18,000 difference was the faker’s premium. But $18,000 really is not a lot of money for such painstakingly detailed work. What about other approaches to making a fake?
When an original antique was used in the Kent factory as the base to enhance with additional ornamentation, at what point did it become a fake? How much can be added or subtracted to alter a piece so much that it is no longer considered original but is now a fake? One rule of thumb I have heard bantered about, primarily by English dealers, is that no more than 20 percent of piece can be altered to be considered original.
Like most rules of thumb that leaves quite a bit of space for speculation. Consider the case of the broken set of chairs. There once were six chairs in the set. One chair was lost, discarded or otherwise disposed of somewhere down the line and a set of five chairs is rather awkward. A good furniture professional can easily take an original part here and there from each of the five chairs and then make enough new pieces to assemble a complete sixth chair. It will have 80 percent original pieces from the set. And what about the remaining chairs? Each chair can have enough new pieces made for it to be a complete chair yet still be 80 percent original. So instead of five 100 percent original chairs we now have six 80 percent chairs. Would the set be considered original under the 80 percent rule or is it now a “fake” set, an “assembled” set or an “altered” set?
In another case I was requested by a customer to make a missing piece for a family heirloom. The heirloom was a mid-19th-century Late Classicism armoire with removable crown and KD (knock down) construction. Apparently while in the possession of another relative the crown had been removed to accommodate a low ceiling. When the relative moved the crown was left behind. Fortunately my customer had a photo of the complete cabinet I could use as a model for the replacement crown. I constructed the crown of poplar and easily duplicated the cyma curve of the molding. What I couldn’t find was the right piece of crotch cut mahogany veneer to use on the crown. The newer flitches just didn’t look the same as the old veneer. So I grain painted it to match. Crotch mahogany is rather easy to grain paint and the finished product, when placed atop the cabinet, was indistinguishable from the photo. Was the armoire now considered to be a fake because such an important part was newly made? Not to the customer.
Deception in one form or another has almost always been a part of the furniture manufacturing process going back as far as the Egyptians. The use of veneer is after all an attempt to make something look like something it is not. The Egyptians used veneer to cover for the lack of good lumber within their control. Another form of deception is the use of an inferior wood that has been stained or colored to look like a more expensive wood. In some cases wood substitution was merely a case-by-case event by individual cabinetmakers to make up for a shortage of or lack of access to better quality material. But late in the 19th century this seemingly innocent deception became institutionalized with the advent of aniline dyes.
In 1856 an English chemist by the name of William H. Perkin accidentally produced aniline dye while trying to make quinine from coal tar. The aniline dye turned out to be a great coloring agent for the vibrant hues desired in late Victorian period fabrics. And there the matter rested until late in the century when someone realized that the aniline dye could be used to change the color of wood so hard it would not accept a traditional oil- based wiping stain. The introduction of aniline dye to the commercial furniture market meant that expensive, imported mahogany did not have to be used in all applications because the penetrating dye could be used to color less expensive domestic hardwoods such as birch and maple. The highly penetrating, usually water-based aniline dyes solved that problem nicely. In fact, if you have tried to strip and refinish a piece from this period with the water-based dye, you know that it strips to “hot pink” and in order to get an even color, your choice is “what color dark red mahogany do you like?”
The use of birch as a mahogany substitute became so prevalent around the turn of the 20th century that Sears decided to turn the deception into a positive marketing tool. Sears, Roebuck & Co. took great pains to promote its use of “non-mahogany” in its 1902 catalog. In describing a five-piece parlor set, its “$17.90 SWELL SUITE,” the text points out “The frames are substantially made of the best selected birch with a fine mahogany finish. … It gives the same general effect as genuine mahogany and is very much less expensive … and you have the same strength as you would have in genuine mahogany furniture.” Elsewhere the catalog describes the finish as “simulated mahogany” or “imitation mahogany.” Thus the cat was out of the bag in a big way. By the early 1930s a secondary wood, red gum, was the most frequently used material in furniture construction and it was not always used as drawer sides. It became the primary “face” wood for an entire generation of households thanks to the creative use of aniline dyes.
One other type of deception in the Depression era also deserves mention. It was the production of so-called “Borax” furniture. Borax furniture was cheaply made of inferior wood and the wood grain was printed directly onto the surface. It was given as a premium for buying borax-based laundry products. This was actually just an extension of the process of faking quartersawn oak developed in 1885 by Harry Sherwood in Grand Rapids. Sherwood used a textured roller to apply a “simulated oak” finish to a smooth cheap secondary wood. All of this of course laid the groundwork for the widest spread furniture hoax in American history with the introduction of the “engraved” finish.
Turns out the engraved finish of the 1980s was a refinement of the borax process. The grain pattern of mahogany or walnut was printed directly onto a secondary background or even directly onto the second greatest hoax in American furniture history, medium density fiberboard, known in the trade as MDF.
So, all things considered, was the production of “fakes” in the English factory any different from the mainstream furniture industry or was it just in the manner they were presented to prospective buyers?
Send your comments, questions and pictures to Fred Taylor at P.O Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423 or info@furnituredetetcive.com. Visit Fred’s website at www.furnituredetective.com. His book How To Be a Furniture Detective is now available for $18.95 plus $3 shipping. Send check or money order for $21.95 to Fred Taylor, P.O. Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423. Fred and Gail Taylor’s DVD, Identification of Older & Antique Furniture ($17 + $3 S&H) is also available at the same address. For more information call (800) 387-6377, fax 352-563-2916, or info@furnituredetective.com. All items are also available directly from his website.
Fred Taylor is a freelance writer based in central Florida, who earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in finance from the University of Florida. While he is perhaps better known in his role as a nationally syndicated columnist on the subject of antique furniture, he is interested in almost all things related to Florida. He has covered many auctions both inside and outside the Sunshine State for leading antiques trade publications. Fred and his wife, Gail, love to travel Florida’s highways and byways on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
The color variations in this "walnut" table pedestal indicate that it is actually made of red gum that was originally stained to look like walnut. Fred Taylor photo. None of the striped veneer in this photo is actually wood. It is printed on paper that is glued to the surface. It is called "veneerite" and was used to decorate Art Moderne pieces of the 1930s. Fred Taylor photo. This chest of drawers is made of an inferior secondary wood that has the designs printed on it. It is called "borax" furniture. Swedberg photo.
You may never see another lantern like this laughing bare foot made of papier-mache. The bidder who paid $10,350 for it at Morphy Auctions in Denver, Pa., must have been smiling, too.
Sometimes a vintage or antique item is so unusual it’s hard to figure out what it represents or how it was used. At a recent Morphy auction in Pennsylvania, an item was offered as a “Halloween foot lantern of substantial size.” It’s 7 1/2 inches tall, certainly large enough to be noticed. And it looks like a foot, but a foot with a smiling face on the bottom. It resembles a TV ad for shoe inserts, but the papier-mache lantern doesn’t talk. A candle held by a holder inside the foot lights the eyes and mouth. Faces are painted on the toes, small faces that suggest Halloween jack-o’-lanterns, but perhaps they’re ghosts. Bare feet are rarely decorations at parties on Halloween or any other holiday. The amazing lantern, a rare conversation piece estimated at $2,500 to $3,500, auctioned for $10,350.
Q: In 1955 I bought a new solid red mahogany bedroom set and now I’m wondering what the set would sell for. The original tag on each piece says, “Basic-Witz Furniture Industries Inc., Waynesboro, Virginia.” Can you help?
A: Basic-Witz Furniture was in business in Waynesboro from 1889 into the mid-1970s, when it was bought by Stanley Furniture, another company based in Virginia. Stanley is still in business. The price you can get for your 1955 set depends on its style, condition and quality. It also depends on finding a buyer who doesn’t mind picking up the furniture, loading it in a truck and moving it. Good Basic-Witz bedroom sets the age of yours sell for under $1,000.
Q: I have my mother’s Fiestaware dishes from 1936-37. What are they worth?
A: Fiestaware has experienced a renaissance among collectors. That’s why the Homer Laughlin China Co. of Newell, W.Va., started making the dishes again in 1986 and hasn’t stopped since. Vintage Fiesta dinnerware made in the 1930s is more valuable than pieces made since 1986, but some 1930s dishes — depending on rarity and color — are worth a lot more than others. Rarities include the green disk water jug, worth more than $1,000, the covered onion bowl, the 10-inch cake plate and syrup pitcher in any color. Original Fiesta colors were dark blue, red, light green, ivory and yellow. Turquoise followed in 1937. Other colors introduced during the first decades of production included chartreuse, forest green, gray, medium green and rose. There are auctions that specialize in Fiestaware and other Homer Laughlin dinnerware. To find more prices, go to Kovels.com.
Q: I have an antique parlor stove made by the Richmond Stove Co. of Norwich, Conn. Cast above the stove door are the words “Ivy Franklin,” and ivy is cast into much of the stove’s surface. Centered over the door is a square ceramic tile showing a profile of Benjamin Franklin’s head. Below the rail there’s a cast plate with the words “Olds & Whipple, Hartford, Conn.” Can you tell me the approximate period of manufacture?
A: The Richmond Stove Co. was founded by A. Richmond in 1867. Benjamin Franklin invented a free-standing stove that allowed warm air to circulate in a room while smoke went up the chimney. The invention, originally called a “Pennsylvania Fire-Place,” was first made in 1744 by a friend of Franklin’s. This type of stove became known as the “Franklin stove.” Your stove was made about 1885. It was sold by Olds & Whipple, a retail company that also sold farm equipment, seeds and fertilizers. Richmond Stove Co. became the Richmond Co. in 1902.
Q: My mother has a 4 1/4-inch Kewpie doll made of soap. It dates from about 1918 and advertised Best Pure Baby Soap. I even have the original box. The doll is made of molded soap, and there’s a heart with the word “Kewpie” inside impressed on the doll’s back. What do you think it’s worth?
A: Kewpies were created by American illustrator Rose O’Neill (1874-1944). She drew the first ones for a 1909 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal. Kewpies became so popular that within a few years they were made as dolls and figurines and appeared on dishes, spoons and other items. Kewpie’s image was used to promote Jell-O and other products, including baby soap. We have seen your doll, without the box, selling online for $35. With the box, it would probably sell for close to twice that.
Q: I am looking for information on a metal fishhook disgorger embossed with the words “Dorsey’s De-Hooker No. 1, Pat. No. 2,152,879.” There’s a small hook at one end, and the other end’s grip has finger indentations.
A: Your disgorger, also called a de-hooker, was patented by Benjamin L. Dorsey of Los Angeles in 1939. It’s used to remove a hook from the gullet of a fish. Not much is known about Dorsey, but he holds several patents granted during the 1930s and early ’40s, most for inventions related to fishing. Vintage fishing equipment can sell for good prices at auction, but single disgorgers like yours don’t attract high prices. Collectors prefer multipurpose angler’s pocketknives, the kind with multiple tools (often including a disgorger) in one knife. Your disgorger might sell for $1 to $10.
Tip: The ladies pictured on old cameos often have long thin noses. The cute turned-up nose is seen on modern cameos.
Terry Kovel answers as many questions as possible through the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names, addresses or e-mail addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of any photograph, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The volume of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.
Need more information about collectibles? Find it at Kovels.com, our website for collectors. Check prices there, too. More than 700,000 are listed, and viewing them is free. You can also sign up to read our weekly Kovels Komments. It includes the latest news, tips and questions and is delivered by e-mail, free, if you register. Kovels.com offers extra collector’s information and lists of publications, clubs, appraisers, auction houses, people who sell parts or repair antiques and much more. You can subscribe to Kovels on Antiques and Collectibles, our monthly newsletter filled with prices, facts and color photos. Kovels.com adds to the information in our newspaper column and helps you find useful sources needed by collectors.
CURRENT PRICES
Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.
Porky Pig doll, stuffed fabric, pressed flocked face, paper decal eyes, blue overalls, felt farmer’s hat, 1940s, 14 inches, $115.
Majolica dessert stand, open water lily surrounded by three connected bowls shaped as water lily leaves and buds, impressed “Mintons,” 5 1/2 inches, $575.
Sterling silver tray, Marie Antoinette pattern, swag and bellflower border with egg-and-rope bands, Gorham marks, 1956, 17 inches, $745.
Coin-operated Booz-Barometer arcade game, “Sobriety Test of Champions,” takes nickel coin, metal, wood base, Northwestern Corp., 1930s, 18 x 18 inches, $950.
George III reading chair, mahogany, leather horseshoe-shaped back and seat, hinged book-rest, detachable reading stand, circular candleholder, late 1700s, $4,880.
Just published! The best book to own if you want to buy, sell or collect. The new Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide, 2011, 43rd edition, is your most accurate source for current prices. This large-size paperback has more than 2,600 color photographs and 42,000 up-to-date prices for over 775 categories of antiques and collectibles. You’ll also find hundreds of factory histories and marks and a report on the record prices of the year, plus helpful sidebars and tips about buying, selling, collecting and preserving your treasures. Available online at Kovelsonlinestore.com; by phone at 800-303-1996; at your bookstore; or send $27.95 plus $4.95 postage to Price Book, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.
Among the 12 Georgia painted furniture lots consigned by Mr. and Mrs. Levon Register of Franklin Springs, Ga., this late 18th- or early 19th-century corner cupboard has the highest estimate: $12,000 to $18,000. It measures 85 1/4 inches x 59 4/4 inches x 30 1/2 inches. The cupboard has its original backboard with undisturbed rosehead nails. Three fixed shelves are behind the two triple-paneled doors. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions. ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The superb and varied collection of Mr. and Mrs. Levon C. Register will occupy the opening hours at Brunk Auctions on Nov. 13. From Franklin Springs, Ga., the Registers have collected across the Southern landscape from pottery and silver to clocks, etchings and furniture. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.
Some of their painted furniture was included in the 2008 Georgia Museum of Art exhibition New Discoveries in Georgia Painted Furniture. In early 19th-century Georgia, painted furniture was a sign of civility and refinement. Paint was expensive and the lack of it implied that a home’s inhabitants were rough, unpredictable country folk.
The Registers consigned 14 lots of painted furniture to the Brunk sale. Twelve are made by or attributed to Georgia makers. The standout is a late 18th- or early 19th-century corner cupboard attributed to the Craven family in what was then Franklin County, Ga. In its original blue and white paint, the tall single-case cupboard with scalloped cornice and two triple paneled doors was constructed completely of yellow pine. Conserved by Hayden Allen, it is expected to sell for between $12,000 and $18,000. The other 11 painted lots from the Register collection include blanket chests, corner cupboards, a step-back cupboard, a hunt board, a quilt rack, a Windsor armchair, a footstool and a table and chair.
Consignors other than the Registers added to the supply of painted furniture. Crossing the auction block Saturday will be a 19th-century North Carolina center table (est. $500-$1,000), an 1824 Virginia blanket chest (est. $3,000-$6,000), an 1820-1850 North Carolina pewter cupboard, a North Carolina tabletop cabinet (est. $2,500-$5,000) and a 19th- century North Carolina dish dresser (est. $10,000-$15,000) – all paint decorated. For sheer patriotic fervor few could equal a painted 19th-century Georgia folk art jelly cupboard (est. $3,000-$6,000) decorated with mustard yellow stars and fylfots over brown paint.
Varnished and painted Southern furniture is only one of a dozen categories in this eclectic sale.
Even those who consider themselves avid Southern pottery collectors may have never seen political jars by Alabama master potter John Lehman (circa 1825-1883). The Registers consigned two of Lehman’s monumental jars – one with likeness of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in relief (est. $40,000-$60,000) and the other with relief portraits of Jefferson and Andrew Jackson (est. $30,000-$50,000). Both are stamped “JL” below the handle with Lehman’s typical applied sprig-molded and grapevine decoration on the wide shoulders and handles. Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Joey Brackner in his book Alabama Folk Pottery said this about the Lehman jars: “Noted pottery collector Levon Register believes that they celebrate the restoration of political power to the Democratic Party that marked the end of Reconstruction.”
Among the nonpainted Southern furniture in the sale, possibly the most dramatic is an 1840s sideboard attributed to the Burgner family of Greene County, Tenn. Even from across the wide Brunk gallery one cannot miss its boldly cut dovetailed splash panel. It resembles crashing waves or large animal ears. The surface of the walnut and poplar sideboard (est. $20,000-$30,000) is original untouched varnish. Another is a 100 1/2 inches high inlaid tall-case clock from Northern Virginia or Baltimore (est. $20,000-$30,000). What makes this clock so clever are the birds that are painted in the arched dial and the bird figure inlaid in the tympanum. Its wood is figured walnut with poplar and yellow pine secondary.
The sale’s second day, Nov. 14, includes large collections of European, Chinese, Asian and Indian antiquities.
The range of Chinese antiques is wider than in previous sales. Look for fine carved jade, kesi panels (pictorial silk tapestries), wooden screens, rootwood tables and a most unusual painting attributed to Yeuqua. The Hong Kong artist active from 1850 to 1885 painted W.T.C. Wilton, a Westerner, at table in his quarters being sketched by Dr. Snow. In its original Chinese Chippendale frame, the Yeuqua painting is expected to open at $12,000 and sell between $15,000 and $25,000.
Among the Chinese porcelain, two from Princeton, N.J., are of special interest. Each is estimated at $6,000 to $12,000. The interior of a 21 1/4-inch 18th-century Hu vase is white; its exterior a gorgeous sky blue. Look carefully and find subtle figures of bats flying among the clouds in the sky with a leaf border around the neck. Also from the same Princeton collection is a Chinese yellow-ground porcelain bottle vase. Possibly from the 18th century or earlier, the unmarked vase is etched with sinuous green dragons among numerous clouds. The same yellow glaze continues on the vase interior.
One of the sales oldest lots is an English or French wool and silk embroidery panel from the late 16th or early 17th century (est. $4,000-$8,000). Colors are especially strong; blues, greens and yellows are sharp and vivid and it is in remarkable condition. Nine women representing Christian and mythological figures appear across the 77-inch canvas panel that was possibly a valance.
Anyone who survived high school chemistry knows of Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry. His pioneering experiments helped distance chemistry from alchemy. A painted plaster bust (est. $5,000-$10,000) of the great French scientist is surrounded by intrigue. It may be the plaster cast for a marble bust in the possession of the American Philosophical Society and a terra-cotta bust in the Musee du Louvre. The plaster is signed “Houdon” after Jean-Antoine Houdon (French, 1741-1828), a sculptor who made a gypsum bust of Lavoisier in 1779.
For a complete catalog with photos, descriptions and estimates, please visit www.brunkauctions.com. For more information please call 828-254-6846.
There are six dovetailed drawers in this sideboard that descended in the Burgner family of Greene County, Tenn. Form the 1840s and with its original varnished surface, original and ornate splash panel and original drawer pulls, the 59 1/2 inches x 67 3/4 inched x 27 1/4 inches sideboard has an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions. Not only is the front of this 19th-century jelly cupboard decorated with yellow painted stars and fylfots, but the side panels are as well. Attributed to Georgia and with its original feel and skirt, the folky cupboard (49 1/4 inchs x 46 inches x 21 3/4 inche) is estimated to bring $3,000-$6,000. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions. This rare John Lehman 19th-century stoneware political jar graces the cover of the Brunk Auctions catalog. The head of Jefferson with ‘Hurrah for Jefferson’ is on one side with George Washington and ‘Hurrah for Washington’ verso. In fine condition, the 20 3/4-inch jar may have been made in either Alabama or Georgia since Lehman practiced his trade in both states. This jar is estimated at $40,000-$60,000. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions. A tall-case clock with nearly identical bird inlay was pictured in ‘Neoclassical Style in Baltimore’ by Priddy, Flanigan and Weidman in the book ‘American Furniture.’ Dated to 1795-1805, this clock is 100 1/2 inches x 18 1/2 inches x 11 1/4 inches and estimated at $20,000 to $30,000. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions. There is a partial signature lower left: ‘…qua’ of this painting. It is possibly that is Hong Kong painter Yeuqua. The two people in the scene are W.T.C. Wilton (right) and Dr. Snow. The 9 1/8-inch x 12-inch oil on canvas in its original carved Chinese Chippendale frame is estimated at $15,000-$25,000. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions.
Marked 14K and artist signed by jeweler Henryk Kaston in gold, this bas relief from the Old Metropolitan Opera, is initialed ‘R.P.’ for Roberta Peters in diamond chips below. The piece is mounted in leatherette base as a paperweight and has a $600-$900 estimate. Image courtesy of Clarke Auctions. LARCHMONT, N.Y.– Clarke Auction’s new Post Road building will host its opening winter sale on Sunday, Nov. 7, which will feature a collection from the home of the iconic coloratura soprano Roberta Peters. After making her Metropolitan Opera debut at age 19, Peters went on to perform with the Met for more than 45 years. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.
The Peters collection includes opera mementos such as a 14k gold bas relief paperweight commemorating the old Metropolitan Opera House, created by Henryk Kaston and personalized for Peters with her initials in diamond chips. Other opera memorabilia includes signed bronzes, sterling silver, fine art, and medallions presented to her over the course of her career.
Other exceptional Peters highlights are a Georg Jensen sterling Acanthus pattern service for 16 and an oil on board painting of sailing ships by Earl Cunningham. We’re honored to have been selected by Ms Peters to sell her collection – great quality pieces with their exceptional provenance”, said Ronan Clarke, “but it’s also a great auction for fine art, for silver, antiques and Mid-century Modern.”
Clarke will be auctioning these items Sunday beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern. Previews at its new 2372 Boston Post Road building will take place Friday, Nov. 5, from noon to 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 6, noon to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. to the start of the sale.
For full details about this auction, please visit www.ClarkeNY.com or call 914-833-8336.
View the fully illustrated catalog online and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Rufous Piccolo Venetian with Yellow Prunts, circa 1994. Image courtesy of The Collection of Howard Shatsky Becoming one of America’s most recognized artists is the dream of many, but most often remains merely a dream – rarely does it become a reality.
Dale Chihuly made it to the top, but the journey getting there was not always an easy one.
Born Sept. 20, 1941, in Tacoma, Wash., Chihuly was a student of interior design and architecture in the early 1960s. By 1965, he had become captivated by the art of blowing glass. He enrolled in the hot glass program offered by the University of Wisconsin. The program was founded by Harvey Littleton, father of the Contemporary Studio Movement in America.
In 1968, Chihuly was awarded a Fulbright grant to study glassblowing in Murano, Venice. It is often said his inspiration for his glass designs came from his experiences there. After Venice, he traveled to see the Libenskys in Czechoslovakia. Their workshop was known for their heavy cast glass sculptures. From there he went to Germany to visit one of his favorite glass artists, Erwin Eisch.
Chihuly received a degree in sculpture, and then entered the ceramics program at the Rhode Island School of Design. It was there Chihuly founded the school’s glass program, which has produced numerous recognized artists.
Chihuly didn’t stop there. He co-founded the Pilchuck School in Washington in 1971. The Pilchuck School has brought together artists worldwide into the program. It has also helped place the area on the map as a mecca for contemporary artists.
In the fall of 1975, Chihuly was scheduled to lecture at a University in Ireland when he was in an automobile accident, which cost him the sight of his left eye. This could have been the end of a career for most artists, but not Chihuly. With the struggles of losing depth perception, came new collaborations. Freed from the rigors and risks of blowing glass, and could spend more of his efforts drawing and photographing his latest creations.
In 1978, Chihuly was offered a solo show at Renwick Gallery, which is part of The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. This was a huge career move for Chihuly.
Since that time, Chihuly’s works have traveled to museums all over the world. Documentaries about his life and his works air regularly on PBS. His dream of blowing glass had made the move from the Rhode Island School of Design to Chihuly Inc., a multimillion-dollar a year company creating glass for corporation, museums and collectors worldwide.
If you’ve not a “Chihuly” experience yet, you can find his works currently on display at City Center in Las Vegas, Nev., through December and at Frist Center of Visual Arts, Nashville, Tenn., through January 2.
Log on to www.chihuly.com/installations/ for a list of his installations.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Chihuly Cylinder with Glass Shard Drawing, circa 1978. Image courtesy of The Collection of Howard Shatsky
British artist Rebecca Campbell, image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers. HOUSTON –The English are known for being rather eccentric and British artist Rebecca Campbell encompasses this in her show “The English Country House,” a collection of 26 paintings depicting life at a country estate.
Campbell’s collection will be exhibited at Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers, 4190 Richmond Ave., from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, and from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12. There is also a reception for the artist.
Campbell’s work has been described as “quintessentially English.” Through her extensive travels she has been influenced by an eclectic source of material ranging from Indian Mogul miniatures, Persian textiles and medieval tapestries, creating her own unique decorative style. She paints in oils on linen, using jewel-like colors and a strong sense of design executed with humor.
The English adore their dogs, often affording them priority over humans. They have an obsession with gardening, creating whimsical wonderlands with topiary, designing mazes to get lost in, or growing vegetables in regimented patterns. The English’s passion for all animals including horses, chickens, falcons, goldfish, cats and of course dogs is legendary. They love the exotic, as displayed by the aviary and the collection of plants in the hot house. They’re also regimented in their daily life with teatime at 4 o’clock and then retreating to the solace of the library or even the garden shed. “The Englishman’s home is his castle.”
Rebecca Campbell was born in England in 1965 and was brought up in the countryside of Ireland surrounded by gardens and animals. She studied illustration at City and Guilds, London School of Art. She now lives and works in London.
She has just had her fifth highly successful solo with Jonathan Cooper, Park Walk Gallery, London. She also shows with Brian Sinfield in the Cotswolds, UK. Shows abroad have included USA, Canada and at the invitation of Luis Morton, in Mexico City. This show in Houston is also by his invitation. Her work is published by card companies and has appeared in many international magazines.
For more information, contact Lindsay Davis at ldavis@mortonkuehnert.com or call 713-827-7835.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers.Image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers.Image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers.
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A 116-year-old photograph of four brothers who served in the Civil War that had become too fragile to display in a Pittsburgh military museum has been restored through a public/private partnership.
The 44-inch by 36-inch portrait of the McGrath brothers of Pittsburgh is now on display on the third floor of Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Oakland.
“It was, quite frankly, in pretty bad shape. It was one of those things you don’t want to move,” said Michael Kraus, the museum’s curator.
The edges of the print had turned brown and were torn along the left and right sides and the top. Small tears appear in the trousers of one brother.
“It was incredibly fragile. It had no structural integrity,” said Wendy Bennett, a fine art paper conservator who worked on the project from November of last year until September.
The “photographic print, enhanced with charcoal and white chalk,” was so delicate that it took hours of planning just to work out a way to move it to her studio about a mile away, Bennett said. A shallow tray was constructed with an opening on one side to house the print for transport.
The portrait was presented to Soldiers & Sailors in 1911 and hung for many years unknowingly exposed to sun and temperature conditions that were not optimal for its preservation.
Originally titled Five Brothers in the Civil War, the portrait was taken in 1894 of the McGrath brothers – Thomas, Bernard, Lawrence and Francis – surrounding a vacant chair, a metaphor for a departed family member – the fifth brother, John, who was killed at Chickamauga, Ga., in 1863. In a later version of the print, a photo of John was added.
The five brothers served in three different regiments.
John D. McGrath served as a 2nd lieutenant and later captain of Company A, 6th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry; Thomas J. McGrath enlisted in August 1861 as a corporal in Company K, 102nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; Bernard F. McGrath enlisted on April 22, 1861, in one of the first regiments, Company F, 7th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; Lawrence T. McGrath served in Company F, 102nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; and Francis C. McGrath enlisted for 100 days in Company E of the 193rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in July 1864 at the age of 18.
Grace Ridgeley of Harwick, a descendent of the McGrath brothers, remembered the portrait and asked the museum one day if it could still be displayed. Told that it couldn’t, she headed a family fund drive to raise the money needed to restore it.
Nearly 30 family members and friends responded from across the country, raising the $5,000 needed to restore the work.
“We hated to see it not be shown. It is an interesting piece,” said Ridgeley, 65, of Springdale Township, a history buff and the family historian. Her great-great-grandmother, Eleanor McGrath Camp, was a sister of the brothers.
Without the funds from the family, museum officials said, the portrait likely would have been confined to a storage room until the museum could pay for its restoration – something Kraus said wasn’t a high priority.
The portrait was returned to display Oct. 9, the same day Soldiers & Sailors celebrated its 100th anniversary.
___
Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Turner’s masterpiece ‘Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino’ measures 35 1/2 inches by 48 inches. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. LONDON (AP) – The British government has stepped in to stop a J.M.W. Turner painting purchased by a U.S. museum earlier this year for almost $45 million from leaving the country.
Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said he was halting the export of Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino until February to give campaigners time to raise money to keep it in Britain.
The government has the power to delay export of works judged to be national treasures.
Government art advisers say the Turner is “so closely connected with our history and national life that its departure would be a misfortune.”
The 1839 panorama was purchased at a Sotheby’s auction in July by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
The sale price was 29.7 million pounds, a record for the artist.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fred Taylor is a freelance writer based in central Florida, who earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in finance from the University of Florida. While he is perhaps better known in his role as a nationally syndicated columnist on the subject of antique furniture, he is interested in almost all things related to Florida. He has covered many auctions both inside and outside the Sunshine State for leading antiques trade publications. Fred and his wife, Gail, love to travel Florida’s highways and byways on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
