DANVERS and BEVERLY, MA – Kaminski Auctions will hold two back-to-back auctions on Saturday, August 17 and Sunday, August 18. Absentee and Internet bidding for both will be available via LiveAuctioneers.
The first sale will disperse the effects of the Monastery of the Carmelite Nuns of Danvers, Massachusetts on the site of the monastery, which closed in June 2023. Because it launched in 1958, its fittings have a more modern sensibility.
Likely to spark strong competition are 15 lots of stained and leaded glass from the Carmelite chapel, including four vertical panels devoted to specific saints, such as Saint Teresa of Avila. All 15 carry individual estimates of $100-$10,000.
As of the time of writing, the item drawing the most interest from bidders is a French gilt brass monstrance, the term for the vessel that holds a consecrated eucharistic host. Undated, it is decorated with pearls, cabochon rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and several diamonds, including one that weighs two carats. Also carrying an estimate of $100-$10,000, as of August 12, it had risen to $4,500 on the strength of eight bids.
The August 18 sale is distinguished by several intriguing works of art, led by Manam Motu, a signed, dated 1914 watercolor and gouache on paper by German expressionist Emile Nolde (1867-1956) and estimated at $200,000-$300,000. An admirer of Paul Gaugin, Nolde followed in his footsteps by embarking on a 1913 trip to the Pacific that brought him to the island of New Guinea, an area of which is the subject of this work. It pictures an island with yellow huts and palm trees gathered on a shoreline below a mountain, its peak crowned by a cloud.
In addition to a still life study of grapes by Mary Cassatt that has an estimate of $20,000-$30,000, there is a compelling triptych by Eric Sloane (1905-1985). Learstar Jet in the Clouds is described in the lot notes as having been ‘painted as an introduction for Learstar Jet Company’ and shows a single Learstar in profile streaking through a skyscape of beautifully and carefully rendered clouds. Measuring 123in long, its estimate is $18,000-$28,000.
