Newburyport Antiques Show Sparkles

NEWBURYPORT, MASS.

:Dealers and collectors alike look forward to the annual Newburyport Antiques Show and this year's late summer event proved no exception. Eager buyers descended on the capacious tent erected along the harborside where 40 dealers mounted artful displays of outstanding furniture and accessories. Many dealers brought along a piece or two with a Newburyport connection - in a nod to the 123-year-old Historical Society of Old Newbury, which is the beneficiary of the show. This year, as in the past, the preview party sparkled and sold stickers popped up all over early in the evening.

This is a well planned and nicely laid out show that pleases both exhibitors and patrons. Dealers enjoy the show, report strong sales and are complimentary about the show management, Dennis Radulski and the committee. Most return faithfully each year.

Spencer Marks was back for its second year and brought along some pretty special silver. A silver tea service by Alcock and Allen of New York City was a real beauty, wrought in the form of corn with a kernel-like design. There was also an Alcock & Allen serving piece. The East Walpole, Mass., dealer also offered a handsome pair of 1842 pitchers by Gerardus Boyce and an imposing French provincial five-light candelabrum made in about 1760 in Mulhouse, Alsace, thought to be by Abraham Mayr II.

Dealer Spencer Gordon said he had a good show last year and was looking forward to a repeat performance.

Stephen-Douglas of Rockingham, Vt., offered a striking carved wood figure of one of the four seasons holding a sheaf of wheat. The piece was made between 1790 and 1810 and because of its relatively unscathed condition it was thought to have probably spent much of its life in a covered area. A corner cabinet in old red paint had flamboyantly shaped shelves within and was filled with boxes, bottles and other smalls. An interesting upholstered fireside chair was made in about 1820 in Quebec.

Maxine Antiques came from North Amherst, Mass., with a tempting array of antique jewelry, a must-see for many visitors.

A folk art view of Newburyport harbor with a fort and flags held pride of place in the booth of Short Hills, N.J., dealer SAJE. It came from the collection of the late dealer and Newburyport resident Lily Lemieux. SAJE also displayed a Hudson River school oil on board of the paddle wheeler Ontario on Lake George, the charcoal view "Church at Point Lewis Looking Towards Quebec" and a Nineteenth Century "Country Mansion." An 1832 overmantel by Newburyport artist Frederic Thomas Somerby was also on offer.

Belmont Vermont dealers Fiske and Freeman filled the booth with fine early Continental pieces. Five circa 1500 English oak columns that had probably been the corners of a pulpit were hung in a row across the booth. Each was carved with a bestiary figure. A 92-inch English or Dutch oak cabinet made in about 1720 towered over the booth. It had a broken arched pediment and tombstone paneled doors.

George and Debbie Spiecker of North Hampton, N.H., showed a dainty circa 1790 Queen Anne mahogany lowboy with a molded top and notched corners with a fancy scalloped apron and an unusual mahogany Canterbury. There was also an imposing circa 1780 American Chippendale chest-on-chest in flame birch. The Spieckers rounded out their booth with Emile Gruppe's "Unloading the Catch" from around 1930 and an 1833 pair of portraits signed and dated by Canadian artist Hannah Marie Hudson.

Boston gallery Richardson-Clarke adopted a marine theme with works by Cape Ann artists: Robert Gruppe's "Gloucester Harbor" and Harry Aiken Vincent's "Fishing Boats and Docks." The gallery also offered John E. Costigan's 1927 "Summer Day along the Brook." Visitors to the booth could also avail themselves of the opportunity to sit in an ornate Egyptian-style chair made as a prop for the movie The Curse of King Tut's Tomb. Three mixed media collages by Newburyport artist Karen Clarke were also on view.

Jane McClafferty of New Canaan, Conn., had a nice late Eighteenth Century needlework of a ship with an American flag, a lighthouse, figures and a house. The label stated clearly that the piece needed conservation, an effort that would be well worth one's while. McClafferty also offered two watercolors by Frederick Tordoff, "American Whaling Ships in the Arctic" and "Shipping off Brant Point, Nantucket." The booth was filled with silhouettes, miniature watercolors, Staffordshire dogs, pearlware and creamware among other ceramics.

Chris Considine came from Falmouth Foreside, Maine, with a nice pine blanket chest in old red paint, a good Queen Anne table and a folky stand with deeply splayed legs. Considine also showed a view of Martha's Vineyard by Frank Forrest Frederick.

Yarmouthport, Mass., dealer Stephen H. Garner brought a handsome Rhode Island curly maple highboy accompanied by a pair of portraits of Lewis and Levina Hones of Barnstable, Mass., who married in 1822, that was accompanied by their coat of arms. Garner also had an enviable selection of American Indian beadwork from 1909.

Brian Cullity of Sagamore, Mass., had a good-looking New England mahogany bow front chest and a fine country slant lid desk. They were accompanied by a Prior school portrait of a lady. One visitor's runaway favorite was the dramatically colorful Bennington flint enamel pitcher in the tulip and heart pattern that was marked for 1849. Cullity also loaded up the shelves of a plant stand with choice redware.

Newbury, Mass., dealer William Ralph offered an Eighteenth Century pair of portraits of Polly Hilliard and her brother Timothy Hilliard of Kensington, N.H., a minister at Barnstable and later at Harvard College. Ralph said the pictures were painted by different artists although they have remained together over the centuries. He said he acquired them from a descendant. Ralph also offered a nice 16-inch delft punchbowl and a mid Nineteenth Century portrait of a brigantine by the English artist C. Strout.

Hanes & Ruskin of Old Lyme, Conn., picked up on the maritime theme of the show with a late Nineteenth Century still life with lobster signed "R. Knopps, Hamburg." The dealers also showed a Queen Anne paint decorated breakfast table, an Eighteenth Century blanket chest with graduated drawers and a nice Queen Anne drop leaf table with four butterflies.

Barbara Fine Associates of Beverly, Mass., filled the walls of her booth with a wide array of prints and drawings including ornithological and botanical prints, fish prints and French architectural drawings.

Delft is the story at Autumn Pond Antiques of Woodbury, Conn., which offered a liberal array of the beautiful wares including a fireplace surround. Autumn Pond also offered an artistic display of graphically exciting weathervanes.

Peter Eaton and Joan R. Brownstein have effected a total collaboration and the harmonious mix of their fine antiques and artwork is the result. They offered a beautifully hued circa 1800 country Chippendale cherry chest-on-chest with scrolled molding and ogee feet that came from the upper Connecticut River Valley or New Hampshire. There was also a vigorous grain-painted country Sheraton chest of drawers with ovolo corners that was made in about 1820 in Vermont. A Chippendale tiger maple desk from about 1780 came from southeastern Massachusetts or Rhode Island

An exquisite early Nineteenth Century painting on velvet, not of Elvis, but of the Goddess of Liberty, hung in the original tiger maple frame. It was stunning. There was also "The Valley of the Connecticut from Mount Holyoke" that was attributed to Victor de Grailly. The circa 1845 picture was based on an engraving after a watercolor by William Henry Bartlett. An Albany, N.Y., memorial embroidery in black thread on white silk was made around 1800 for the Jansens. A case filled with mouth-watering miniatures completed the display.

Susanna J. Fichera Fine Art of Bowdoinham, Maine, exhibited a wide range of paintings that encompassed the dealer's vast range. She brought "Eucalyptus, Santa Barbara" by Boston artist Hermann Dudley Murphy, Samuel Warner's "The Old Bog, Duxbury, Mass.," and the 1934 "Domed Minaret" by N. Ross Parke.

A star among the fine offerings in the Heller-Washam booth was the boldly colorful Pennsylvania circa 1835 paint decorated dower chest with an eye-popping pinwheel design. The Portland, Maine, dealer also offered a Simon Willard gallery-type banjo clock from around 1820 and a Massachusetts figural mahogany tall clock. A nice Federal mahogany card table with a birch plume apron was eye-catching. Another item of particular interest was a captivating Nineteenth Century earthenware garden table on paw feet.

Heller-Washam also showed the gouache "The Alfarata, A Hermaphrodite Brig in The Bay of Naples" that was attributed to Michele Funno and a John A. Knight painting of the two-masted schooner Frank B. Colton.

Dealer Christine Vining of Maynard, Mass., brought along an imposing Scottish chiffonier by James Howden in rosewood and rosewood veneers, an exceptional mid Nineteenth Century Oriental Trade pier table that was thought to have Javanese origins, and a pair of Seventeenth Century walnut armchairs. A brilliant green Nineteenth Century Paris Porcelain dinner service was eminently desirable as was a Portuguese creamware group from the late Eighteenth Century. Vining set off her booth with a Connecticut River scene by Thomas Gold Appleton.