Satsuma pottery koro with
Shimazu crest, $4,830.
By Jackie Sideli
EAST DENNIS, MASS.- Several times per year, The Eldred Company on
Cape Cod has an Asian art sale. December's Asian sale, the firm's
last of the year, was a two-day sale.
"The sale was disappointing" according to gallery spokesman and
auctioneer for the second day John Scofield, no doubt due to the
first very significant winter storm, which hit the entire
Massachusetts area on Friday, the first day of the sale. Very few
people were willing to brave the storm to go out anywhere, never
mind travel to Cape Cod for an auction. Still, a few hardy souls
did make it, and there were some success stories. The second day
saw the sun return, the snow mostly gone, and the crowd filling
the very spacious, well-lit auction facility.
This monumental auction offered more than 1,200 lots in two days.
The material was very high quality, and of especial note was the
exquisite European tapestry, from France or Belgium, Nineteenth
Century. A landscape with a foliate border, measuring 65 by 88
inches, this piece opened at $3,000, and with two phones battling
it out, it sold for a significant $4,600.
The first day's offerings included a number of period snuff
bottles, many jade examples, and many of jadeite. One such snuff
bottle, a green jadeite bottle, in ovoid form, with relief
carving of crabs, dragons and shou, dating from the Nineteenth
Century brought a very solid $1,840. A stunning Neolithic Pottery
jar, also offered on day one, in a tapered baluster form with
flared rim, decorated with a red on beige sinuous design brought
$1,610. One very good surprise on day one was the bronze mounted
amethyst glass vase, with a Bacchanalian theme. With a modest
pre-sale estimate of just $200/300, it soared to its ultimate
selling price, reaching the very strong $1,265
A set of eight Coalport porcelain dessert plates, which also
surfaced on day one, in vivid cobalt and gilt decoration,
measuring 8¼ inches in diameter, brought $1,035. A very good
Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze figure, depicting Tara seated on a lotus
throne with ruby and turquoise inlay, and measuring five inches,
from the Eighteenth Century brought $1,610.
This French majolica platter attributed to Victor Barbizet came
in at a surprising $2,415.
Early in the second day, a late Nineteenth Century Imari
porcelain bowl, in flower form, with floral roundels on a brocade
ground, and measuring 13½ inches sold for $1,495. Also offered on
day two was a collection of Tsubas. One, an inlaid iron example,
in the form of two sho (flutes) joined together, both flutes with
gilt inlaid pine tree design, and measuring 2¾ inches. Dating
from the Eighteenth Century, this tsuba sold for $575.
Of the many Oriental rugs that were offered, the Hamadan,
measuring a substantial 10'5" by 13'5" brought $1,035. A
rectangular cloisonne enamel tray, depicting a Mount Fuji
landscape design, with sparrow and lake in the foreground, and
measuring 14¾ by 8¼ inches, from the Meiji Period, sold for $431.
There was quite a lot of excitement when, midway through the
second day of the sale, the Satsuma Pottery Koro, in diamond
form, with pierced lattice sides, and figural cartouches was
offered. With a four character gold-on-red mark on base, with
Shimazu crest, from the Meiji period, this piece brought a solid
$4,830.
Another outstanding offering on the second day was the elegant
and beautiful Makazi Kozan Studio porcelain vase. In the lotus
blossom form, with underglaze blue figural design, on a red
ground, there was plenty of competition for this piece. It sold
to a buyer on the phone, for $4,025. A gold lacquer incense box,
containing six smaller boxes, each with varying decoration,
dating from the Nineteenth Century soared past its pre-sale
estimate of $300/400 ultimately selling for $1,150.
Some of the most vigorous action of the auction involved the
prints, which were hotly contested by several dealers and
collectors at the sale. A Kunisada, depicting a woman in a blue
kimono, in the Oban tate-e size sold for $632 surpassing the
pre-sale estimate of $80/120, to a buyer at the sale.
European tapestry, $4,600.
Dealer William Stein, from Floating World Gallery LTD in Chicago
had flown in from the Windy City just to attend the auction. He
purchased many items at the sale, including the Hiroshige, in the
Oban yoko-e size, of "Drying Strips of a Gourd, A Famous Product
Aminakuchi," from "Fifty-three stations of the Tokaido Road" This
sold over its pre-sale estimate, bringing the price to $287. A
beautiful Kawase Hasui, Oban Tate-e, "Shibazojoji Temple in Snow"
of a figure before a red temple. Dating from 1925, this print
sold to a buyer at the sale for $1,840.
There were many fine things offered at this sale so it was
unfortunate that the snowstorm hit on day one, but the buyers who
made the effort to attend were extremely glad that they did.
