Texas Estate Provide Paintings for Dallas Auction Gallery

DALLAS

:Desirable paintings from Texas estates were the star attractions at the October 12 sale at Dallas Auction Gallery where the top lot was "The River Bank" by Eanger Irving Couse, which sold for $100,875. The oil on canvas shows an Indian and a boy seated alongside a stream. Couse was best known for his paintings of the Taos pueblo residents and this picture is assumed to depict Taos. The circa 1915 picture, which was in perfect condition, came from a Dallas estate and went to a local dealer. It was posted on that gallery's website soon after the sale.

A small but beautiful oil on wood panel, "Blue Bonnets North of San Antonio" by Julian Onderdonk sold for $31,625 to a collector bidding on the phone. Staff of the Dallas Auction Gallery found the picture on a house call in East Texas where it was about to be put up for sale for $100. It drew much attention from a number of area collectors of the Texas artist's work.

The Flemish portrait "Member of the Le Clerq Family" by an artist in the circle of Franz Pourbus realized $25,300 from a Dallas buyer. The picture, which was inscribed 1526, was donated to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1941 by Leicester Busch Faust and was deaccessioned in 1983. It came from the estate of an elderly (101 years old) woman whose survivors knew nothing about her acquisition of the picture.

Of three paintings by Chauncey Foster Ryder "Stowe Hollow," a 1915 landscape with mountains in the background, fetched $19,550. Another landscape with mountains went for $5,175 and a third brought $4,025.

Ralph Albert Blakelock's nocturnal scene "Indian Encampment" was a big draw and flew past its $2,5/4,500 estimate to $19,400 while the oil on canvas "Evening Light in Winter" by George Gardner Symons from a Dallas estate sold for $13,800.

The 1879 oil on canvas, "My Pet Lamb," a depiction of two charming children feeding a lamb in a woodland setting, attracted no fewer than 30 Internet bids even before the sale. Estimated at $2,5/3,500 it sailed off to $13,800.

Gordon Hope Grant's 1940 view of the fishing village of Polperro in Cornwall, England, came from a Dallas estate and sold for $9,200. The multitalented Grant was a marine painter, illustrator, etcher and author.

Scott H. Shuford, principal of the Dallas Auction Gallery, said the sale drew wide international interest and strong Internet bidding.

A choice array of KPM porcelain attracted strong interest. The highlight was a large porcelain plaque with an image of John the Baptist and his mother with the Madonna and child that brought $11,500. A pair of oval plaques each with a portraits of a woman sold for $8,050 against the estimated $800-$1,200. A single framed image was also $8,050.

An unusual early Twentieth Century Louis XV-style table of giltwood and gesso with a central painted porcelain plaque surrounded by 11 smaller ones brought $9,200. The central plaque, which bore the marks of Viennese porcelain maker Franz Dorfl and was signed "Perkeo," depicted two women and cherubs in a sylvan setting. Each of the 11 smaller plaques was painted with a portrait of a woman and was marked "Perkeo."

A pair of gilt bronze Louis XVI style lamps, each with a cut glass shade supported by an acanthus branch held by a seated putto, stood 281/2 inches tall and sold for $8,625 against the estimated $2/4,000. The lamps had been electrified.

A striking circa 1820 Georgian mahogany sideboard with a brass rail with string inlay and Greek key inlay made $3,450 and a Steinway L grand piano with serial number L532292 realized $28,750.

All prices quoted reflect the 15 percent buyer's premium. For information call 214-653-3900 or visit www.dallasauctiongallery.com.