Boston's Finest - Ellis Show Shines

BOSTON

: The Ellis Antiques Show sailed into port with 35 dealers aboard for its 46th season this year at the Castle at the Park Plaza Hotel. Many familiar faces and a few new ones were on hand to make the show its usual success. Last year was the venerable show's first season in reduced quarters of the Castle. This year's event was well put together with no awkward corners or cubbies. It was "brighter and tighter," as one dealer put it.

Any initial apprehension that dealers might have had about the show was dispelled early in the preview party when sold stickers appeared like stars in the sky. The popular event drew some 700 guests.

Just inside the front door C.L. Prickett Antiques filled its booth with toothsome Americana that included a jazzy Boston Chippendale figured mahogany chest of drawers. With a molded shaped top, bold ball and claw feet and a dropped center pendant, the rare piece was a nod to the Boston audience. There was also an impressive circa 1760 Massachusetts Queen Anne walnut bonnet-top highboy with North Shore provenance and a circa 1780 Concord (Mass.) Chippendale carved cherry bonnet-top chest-on-chest with a broken arch top and a center shaped plinth, along with an oval Salem Federal mahogany candlestand.

The Yardley, Penn., dealers also brought along a Baltimore Hepplewhite demilune card table with oval eagle inlay that was made between 1790 and 1810. They showed an elegant Hepplewhite mahogany Pembroke table with an oval top and inlaid paterae and inverted husks. Two Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany side chairs were carved richly with shells.

The Pricketts also featured a selection of nice American pictures including "View of Passamaquoddy Bay" by Victor DeGrailly, Edward Lamson Henry's 1909 "Unexpected Visitors" and a splendid pair of full length portraits of children by George Gassner.

William Varieka Fine Arts, Ltd, brought along a stunning array of pictures, most of which had a distinct New England connection. Pride of place went to John Singer Sargent's 1908 "Valdemosa, Majorca, Pomegranate Trees," which measured 281/4 by 36 inches and was priced at $2.5 million.

The Newport R.I., dealers had not one but two works by Martin Johnson Heade, the 1861-66 "Haystack at Sunset" and the later, 1875, "Apple Blossoms Against the Clouds." Edward Hopper's "Monhegan Houses" was of more than passing interest to show attendees. Alfred T. Bricher was represented by his "Winter Landscape, Mt Washington" and the circa 1860 "White Mountain Landscape with Fisherman, Mt Chocorua, N.H." A Ralph Cahoon painting showed an old Ford convertible with youthful passengers waving Brooks School pendants driving away from Bailey's Beach in Newport. Bill Varieka posited that the painting was probably commissioned for a Newport resident on the occasion of his or her graduation from Brooks.

Bryn Mawr, Penn., dealer Diana Bittel had an enviable selection of English woolies, of which a particular favorite was the circa 1845 "Old Fleet versus New." Bittel is also known for her selection of sailors' valentines and the walls of her booth were aflutter with them. Other marine objects included a carved stone figure of a French officer, circa 1825-1850.

Other of the offerings in the booth acknowledged the Boston audience, such as the detailed Nineteenth Century view of Boston Harbor from East Boston by Nicolino Calyo that was a big hit. A New England tiger maple six-drawer chest was a true attention-getter as was the painted Eastern Massachusetts dressing table with gilt composition beading. An Emile Gruppe painting, "Rocky Neck, East Gloucester," was also perfect for the Boston buyers. A sparkling array of brass boots and shoes was pleasing to every eye - they are small, easily portable and topics of conversation. Another conversation starter - or stopper, depending on one's leanings - was the early Eighteenth Century carved walnut figure of a saint.

A large figure of the Bodhisattva was hard to miss in Jeffrey Tillou's booth where it sat front and center. The Eighteenth or early Nineteenth Century figure, which retained some old paint, was acquired south of Beijing in the 1970s after the Cultural Revolution in China. Large as it was, it was hardly alone, however. A nice Chippendale chest-on-chest had a removable cornice with fine dentil molding and a diminutive serving table that was probably made in New York around 1800-1815 both drew interest. The Litchfield, Conn., dealer also showed a full-bodied and plump cow weathervane that was found in Vermont and a pair of Vermont portraits of a husband and a wife holding a baby from about 1830-1850.

If you cannot find something you want in the Sallea booth, it does not exist. The New Canaan, Conn., dealer Sally Kaltman is known for her boxes and they are splendid. She offered quill boxes, quill and ivory examples, tartanware boxes, dressing boxes, liquor boxes tortoise shell boxes and tea caddies.

Vose Galleries of Boston was spread across several walls and the selection on offer was first-rate. The Martin Johnson Heade "Loquats on Red Velvet" was a stunner. It hung with such gems as "Winter in the Country," a quintessentially New England scene by George H. Durrie, and two smaller Durries, "Trout Fishing" and "Still Life with Apple, Pears and Grapes."

The William Bradford picture "Bark Panther among the Icebergs - Coast of Newfoundland" was also an important offering that had a hold tag placed on it soon after the doors for preview opened. They gallery also showed "Mount Washington, Presidential Range, N.H.," a view from the north by Edward West Nichols, and Mather Brown's "Smugglers Pushing off Their Boat."

There was also "English Landscape with Black Grouse" by Victor Gifford Audubon and William Stone's 1889 "Low Tide, Gas House Beach, Marblehead, Massachusetts." Vose reported strong sales including the Durrie, Alvan Fisher's "Spaniel after the Hunt," the Nichols, the Bradford and a Clement Drew, "Ship on the Ocean." The most recent painting in the booth of the oldest paintings dealer around was done in 1897.

Newbury, Mass., dealers Peter Eaton and Joan Brownstein were new dealers to the show this year and the couple juxtaposed their furniture and folk art paintings nicely.

A display of miniature portraits included circa 1840 examples of three members of the Colbey family of New Hampshire by J.A. Davis among a medley of others. A pair of miniature portraits on ivory was made by a Chinese artist for the American market. Several family records in ink and watercolor by Serepta Munstill of Torrington, Conn., delineated the Vail family and the Judson family. "A View on the Hudson" by Thomas Chambers was a dramatic portrayal with extravagant color.

Fairhaven, Mass., dealer Georgian Manor Antiques had a terrific show. Enrique Goytizolo reported after the show that he sold an extraordinary English ebonized wood games table in the Anglo Indian style with ebony and inlaid ivory patterns with penwork decoration and a silvery base. He also sold a beautifully colored circa 1715 English George I walnut tallboy, a William IV nightstand, two rare Peruvian mirrors, an Irish Georgian cut-glass bowl, tea caddies, a mahogany tray-on-stand with brass inlay and a raised brass gallery, a stool and a most interesting coconut carved with silver.

G. Sergeant of Woodbury, Conn., offered a late Eighteenth Century French porcelain compote in paint and gilt decoration with a pierced basket above two neoclassical maidens on a plinth base. A large English George IV mahogany and part ebonized mahogany wardrobe dominated the booth. The circa 1820-1830 piece had a triangular pediment above the center section with drawers and cupboards. A nice pair of George III Sheraton armchairs had high appeal and a glittering neoclassical eight-light chandelier in bronze dore with crystal pendants shone a fine light on all below. Gary Sergeant reported a strong show, with the sale of a console table, a small George III cabinet bookcase, an Eighteenth Century Italian marble-top console table, a Sheraton mahogany sofa table and a small Queen Anne tray-top table.

Elinor Gordon was her usual warm and sunny self, greeting clients, friends and admirers. On her own this year she brought with her from Villanova, Penn., Fitzhugh porcelain of every hue, punch bowls, a tureen in the Rockefeller pattern, another tureen with dog head handles and a full dog finial and a boy and cow pattern plate. Just for her Boston audience, which is wide, Gordon offered an apple green dinner plate with the arms of the Forbes family.

Carswell Rush Berlin displayed a simply spectacular Boston Classical sleigh bed made in 1825. Elegant furniture on offer included six carved mahogany upholstered side chairs that were attributed to Charles A. Boudouine of New York and a Boston carved mahogany cheval dressing glass with acanthus finials. A pair of Boston Classical carved mahogany sofas from about 1825-1830 that resembled strongly the work of cabinetmaker Isaac Vose was offered, although Berlin transported only one to Boston from his New York base. A handsome pair of New York tiger maple open arm chairs made in the Classical taste was also offered, along with a New York gilt mirror by Jose Douglas, a Classical mahogany pier table with bronze mounts and an Egyptian marble top and a pair of Carsel Argand lamps.

New to the Ellis this year was Pennsylvania dealer Raccoon Creek at Oley Forge, which featured an arresting black and white weft-loop coverlet by Hannah Wilson of Farmington, N.H. Of a selection of ceramics one of the most intriguing was a stoneware pitcher decorated with double cobalt birds and double baskets of flowers and having a Bristol glaze. The glaze was used in the Delaware Valley by Thomas Haig of Philadelphia. An 1874 stoneware presentation pitcher by Remmy boldly incised with the name of Philadelphia blacksmith John Spuck was accompanied by his shaving mug that bore an image of him at the anvil.

Two Pennsylvania redware jars for sale included one example with interesting stripes. There was also an array of bird carvings and a carved hunter with ducks and an interesting John Drissel spoon rack with spoons.

New York silver dealer Robert Lloyd was also new to the show and he showed a terrific range of early American silver, Seventeenth and Eighteenth English silver and Irish silver. A special section was devoted to Boston silversmiths.

Peter Pap Oriental Rugs came from Dublin, N.H., with choice offerings whose alluring colors and designs captured much interest.

Don Cresswell of The Philadelphia Print Shop reported about 60 sales of prints. He said he generally makes about 25-30 sales at similar shows. He offered something for everyone and sold from every category.