WINDSOR, Conn. – Among the most contested lots at Nadeau’s January 1 sale was a set of miniature watercolor and gouache portraits credited to a follower of the German court painter Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553). Once thought to be from the 16th century, they are now dated to the 19th century. Nonetheless, estimated at $3,000-$5,000, they hammered for $47,500 and sold for $60,800 with buyer’s premium. Complete results are available at LiveAuctioneers.
The subjects, mounted in two carved giltwood frames measuring 8 by 12in, are familiar images from the Cranach oeuvre. Two of the portraits depicted the reforming theologians Martin Luther and John Calvin, and the other two showed Johann the Constant and Johann the Steadfast, electors of Saxony and important figures in the early Lutheran church. Cranach and his workshop produced many formulaic printed and painted portraits of the subjects, with whom the artist was well acquainted. However, they were also much-copied in the Victorian era.
This quartet (one signed at the upper right and dated 1543) carried a label to one of the frames for a Christie’s sale of the collection of Lord Michelham – a reference to Herbert Stern, 1st Baron Michelham (1851-1919). A British financier, philanthropist and a member of the Stern banking family, his spectacular homes in London and Paris were filled with an impressive collection of works of art. As big spenders, Michelham and his wife, Geraldine (1882-1927), enjoyed a privileged relationship with the art dealer Joseph Duveen. Two sales from his collection were held by Christie’s after Michelham’s death: a sale at Strawberry Hill House in May 1926 and another at 20 Arlington Street, London in November 1926. These pictures could have been part of one of these sales.
Another lot that sold well above its estimate was a Cartier Art Deco desk clock. The epitome of inter-war glamour, it was estimated at $3,000-$5,000 but hammered for $52,500 ($67,200 with buyer’s premium). Housing a movement by the European Watch and Clock Co, the deluxe case combined a dial of French hallmarked 18K gold, mother of pearl and blue enamel and a geometric frame of polished nephrite and lapis lazuli. Bidders were alerted to an old stapled repair to one of the lapis pillars, but were undeterred.
A Tiffany Studios oil lamp in the Moorish style took $45,000 ($57,600 with buyer’s premium) against an estimate of $10,000-$20,000. A trip to the Middle East was de rigueur for European and American artists of the mid- to late 19th century, and Louis Tiffany’s travels to Algeria and Spain from December 1875 to February 1877 were a major source of inspiration for his art. The Moorish influence is particularly evident in the firm’s earliest leaded glass lamps dating from the 1890s.
Also offered with an estimate of $10,000-$20,000 was a 6ft 3in high bronze by the Argentinian-born abstract sculptor Alicia Perez Penalba (1913-1982). Although untitled in the catalog, this large-scale cast by the Susse Fondeur, Paris is known as Voyageur des Nuits (Night Traveler). Conceived in 1958, a decade after Penalba had made France her home, it was made in an edition of nine. This patinated and gilt cast on a roughly hewn marble base came for sale from the New York estate of Israeli artist and sculptor Dina Recanati (1928-2021). The bronze hammered for $37,500 ($48,000 with buyer’s premium).
Four miniature watercolor and gouache portraits credited to a follower of the German court painter Lucas Cranach the Elder from the collection of Lord Michelham, which sold for $47,500 ($60,800 with buyer’s premium) at Nadeau's.
Cartier Art Deco gold, mother of pearl, enamel, nephrite and lapis desk clock, which sold for $52,500 ($67,200 with buyer’s premium) at Nadeau's.
Tiffany Studios oil lamp in the Moorish style, which sold for $45,000 ($57,600 with buyer’s premium) at Nadeau's.
'Voyageur des Nuits (Night Traveler),' a 1958 bronze sculpture by Alicia Perez Penalba, which sold for $37,500 ($48,000 with buyer’s premium) at Nadeau's.