Asian Art And Bling Star At Clars Antiques, Estate Auction

Oakland, Calif.

:Asian art led the way at Clars Auction Gallery's fine antiques and estate auction December 1–2 among offerings of art, furniture, jewelry and key collections.

Chinese artist Luo Zhongli's oil on canvas "Grandmother's Love" was the top lot of the auction when it attained $87,750. The painting opened right around $20,000 and had several serious phone bidders banging away at the lot, with a Brussels bidder claiming the painting.

Other Asian highlights included a pastel on paper, "Riding Towards the Pacific" by Tsing-Fang Chen (Taiwan, b 1936), that fetched $7,020, and a large Chinese eight-panel inlaid lacquer screen, scene depicting maidens greeting immortals and celestial maidens, that brought $2,925.

A Japanese Satsuma beaker vase, late Edo/early Meiji period, decorated in gilt and polychrome enamels with a continuous frieze of a flowering chrysanthemum and hydrangea along an Asian-style fence, possibly a presentation vase for a world exposition, took $4,680. Also from Japan came a massive Imari fishbowl, Meiji period, depicting festivities, children, mythical figures and entertainers, that brought $2,925.

Leading a pleasing offering of rugs was a Persian Sarouk carpet, circa 1910, measuring 13 feet 4 inches by 9 feet 10 inches, that achieved $15,210. Other standouts included a Persian Serapi, circa 1875, 8 feet 3 inches by 11 feet 10 inches, that brought $7,020, and a Turkish silk Hereke prayer rug, 4 feet 9 inches by 2 feet 5 inches, at $2,925.

The sale was promoted as offering art and "bling," and jewelry comprised some 300 lots at the end of the auction, making the wait well worth it for bidders. The biggest sparkle came from a three-stone diamond 18K yellow gold and platinum ring that fetched $12,870. The ring was set with a yellow round brilliant-cut diamond weighing just over three carats and two heart-cut diamonds weighing .8 carats. The ring opened at $6,000, with two phone bidders in competition with a gallery bidder, who prevailed.

Other top jewelry session performers included an 18K rose gold Bertolucci wristwatch, mother-of-pearl dial, accented with diamonds, that brought $7,020; a South Sea cultured pearl necklace graduating from about 10.22 mm to 14 mm with a 14K white gold clasp that fetched $6,435, and an 18K white gold diamond ring that realized $5,850.

Art was well represented in the sale, with a fine selection of works by African American artists in particular.

African American artist Sargent Johnson's lithograph "Singing Saints," circa 1935, sold for $7,605. Foremost African American sculptor Elizabeth Catlett (American Mexican, b 1919) is acclaimed for her prints and paintings of the female figure; her lithograph "Black Maternity" fetched $4,387. Other standouts were an oil on Masonite, "Flowering," 1970, by Walter Henry Williams that took $4,680, and "Gideon," a lithograph by Charles Wilbert White, that realized $5,265.

Other fine art standouts included Joan Miró's etching and aquatint "Gaudi XIV," which sold for $4,095; a casein on cardboard, "Profile of a Young Boy," by Charles Sebree at $4,680; and an unsigned China Trade oil on canvas depicting a view of the Dutch Folly Fort with Canton factories in the background, which realized $4,972.

A diverse selection of furniture was offered, from Continental to American, led by an Italian Baroque partial gilt and polychrome cabinet, late Nineteenth Century, that brought $3,510.

French offerings included a Louis XV provincial inlaid walnut armoire, Brittany, from the second half of the Eighteenth Century, and a Louis XV-style carved and molded cherry parquetry top dining suite, circa 1930, that each fetched $2,925. An additional sale entry was a Louis XVI-style walnut burl bedroom suite, circa 1890, that achieved $2,223.

American furniture was led by a set of six Centennial Chippendale-style mahogany chairs, circa 1870, with serpentine crest rail and cabriole legs with carved knees ending in ball and claw feet that brought $2,106.

Sculptural offerings were led by a Sino Tibetan gilt copper-alloy figure of a deity, Nineteenth Century, seated in a royal resting pose on a pedestal bringing $4,972; a Japanese bronze figural group from the Meiji period of a maiden walking with an infant on her back at $4,387, and a Thai gilt bronze figure of a meditating Buddha, Nineteenth Century, at $2,925.

Bright spots among lighting were a French gilt bronze nine-light chandelier, circa 1920, that took $3,217 and a pair of Louis XVI figural bronze ormolu seven-light candelabra with putti, each holding a stem from which came scrolling lily-spray branches, that fetched $2,925.

Rounding out the auction, a Teddy and the Bear mechanical bank in fine original paint, sans the coin keeper disk, fetched $4,095, a Normandy carved oak long case clock, circa 1780, with Demoiselle movement realized $2,340, and a massive Art Nouveau cast metal figural garden light, circa 1905, showing a roaring panther in front of an icy ledge sold for $1,521.

All prices reported include a 17 percent buyer's premium. For information, www.clars.com or 888-339-7600.