Aesthetic Movement Walnut Cabinet Brings $97,250 At Weschler's Event

WASHINGTON, D.C.

:Weschler's recent auction of European and American furniture and decorations including Asian works of art ended on a high note with an Aesthetic Movement Minton tile inset burl wood and walnut side cabinet on the auction block.

During exhibition, the carved cabinet ($3/5,000) garnered a lot of attention and once bidding commenced the estimate was quickly topped to reach a final price of $97,250 to an East Coast museum.

The sale offered 585 lots, with more than 90 percent of the property selling and totaling $1.25 million.

American furniture included a Chippendale walnut tall case clock ($5/7,000) by Conococheague, Penn., clockmaker John Scott that sold to an avid collector for $49,350.

A Federal inlaid and crossbanded birch and curly maple bow front chest of drawers, from the workshop of James Prescott, Deerfield, N.H., sold for $7,050; a Chippendale walnut small chest-on-chest ($1/1,500) realized $14,100; and a Philadelphia classical satinwood inlaid mahogany fold-top card table, with double-dolphin standard, was aggressively bid to $8,225.

American decorative and fine art highlights included a Federal satinwood inlaid and crossbanded mahogany miniature side cabinet, climbing past its estimate to $3,290.

A large Navajo Ganado-Klagetoh rug, circa 1940-1950, fetching $14,100; and a oil on canvas by Twentieth Century artist D. Tayler, "American Frigate at Sea," sailing away to $3,995.

Chinese Export was another solid performer at the February auction. The most sought-after lot was a 65-piece cobalt and gilt decorated dinner service. The dinner service ($7/10,000), made for the Arnold family of Providence, R.I., Jiaqing period (1796-1820), realized $24,675.

American, English and Continental silver included an American repoussé silver ewer by Andrew Ellicott Warner, which brought $3,430 and a silver punch ladle, possibly by Philadelphia silversmith J. Alexander Simpson, that sold for $2,585.

Decorative Continental furniture continues to dominate the market as an Italian neoclassical-style micromosaic and specimen marble side table depicting St Peter's Square and other Roman monuments sold for $17,625. A massive Syrian mother-of-pearl, ebony bone and wire inlaid hardwood side cabinet brought $11,750.

Continental ceramics featured a pair of late Nineteenth Century Sèvres-type ormolu mounted pictorial covered urns, which sold to a phone bidder for $6,462, and a Meissen nodding pagoda figure hammered down at $5,390.

French mantel clocks hit a high note with a late Nineteenth Century Sèvres-type and ormolu three-piece clock garniture ($6/8,000) by Japy Frères that realized $11,750. A pair of Charles X ormolu centerpieces drew $6,462 and an unsigned Eighteenth Century Spanish School portrait of a gentleman ($1/ 2,000) that incited a bidding war between the phones and the floor realized $14,100.

A large selection of Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century boxes and tea achieved strong results including a Spanish Colonial brass and silver mounted tortoiseshell casket, which more than tripled its estimate to sell for $5,875 and a German brass mounted kingwood tea caddy that realized $3,525.

English furniture highlights included a pair of Regency style mahogany caned bergères, which brought $8,812, an early Nineteenth Century Regency ebonized wood inlaid and crossbanded mahogany sideboard at $4,935 and a George III style ebonized and satinwood inlaid mahogany linen press at $3,760.

One standout from a selection of four English bracket clocks was a George III black and gilt-japanned bracket clock ($4/6,000) by John Ellicott, London. Consigned from a prominent Virginia collection, the clock, circa 1770, struck at $22,325.

The Asian works of art session saw fierce overseas bidding including a Korean white slip inlaid Punch'ong stem bowl, Chôson dynasty, Seventeenth Century, which realized $4,465; a Nineteenth Century Chinese coromandel lacquer eight-panel floor screen at $5,875, an Eighteenth-Nineteenth Century Sino-Tibetan bronze figure of the Dakini Vajravarahi for $17,625; and a Chinese Famille Rose plaque of immortals playing a game of Go sold to an Internet bidder for $20,825.

An Egyptian mounted giltwood Osiris bronze ($1/1,500) was a standout when it sold for $16,450. Additionally, among the 30 rugs offered was a late Nineteenth Century Serapi rug, which sold within estimate at $23,500.

Weschler's next auction of European and American furniture and decorations including Asian Works of art will be May 20. For information, www.weschlers.com or 202-628-1281.