The 65-inch George III-style cut glass chandelier from the Bruce collection at the Carnegie Museum of Art, sold for $56,160 to a buyer from Liverpool, England, who restores chandeliers.
:Northeast Auctions provided a springtime tonic for bidders at its May 17 auction where they enjoyed wider than usual buying opportunities. Museum-quality objects were not exactly affordable, but certainly achievable. Nearly 250 pieces deaccessioned by the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Penn., including more than 40 lots alone donated by Ailsa Mellon Bruce to the museum, crossed the block.
The highlight of the sale was a 65-inch George III-style cut glass chandelier of 17 arms festooned with delicate beaded chains and prisms that came from the Bruce collection. It sold for $56,160 to a buyer from Liverpool, England, who restores chandeliers. He gathered up a number of cut glass lighting lots, including a pair of regency cut glass and brass two light candelabra for $1,872 and an Early Nineteenth Century regency pair of cut glass two light candelabra for $1,170. He said he simply liked that pair of Minton Lily of the Valley spill vases and English porcelain inkwell for which he paid $585. He was an underbidder on a 6-foot French Empire-style cut glass and gilt metal eight light chandelier that sold on the phone for $51,480.
The two buyers vied for several other lighting lots. A 56½-inch George III-style cut glass eight light chandelier elicited $12,870 from the phone bidder, who also bought a 33-inch George III-style cut glass eight light chandelier for $4,914 and a pair of Chippendale design carved giltwood torcheres for $4,680. The same buyer paid $6,435 for a large (80 by 68 inches) Victorian rococo carved and gilded overmantel mirror and $8,190 for a wrought iron fire screen with a fanciful scroll and urn motif.
A Nineteenth Century Meissen Commedia dell'arte figure of Harlequin went to a phone bidder for $29,250.
Bidding on a Nineteenth Century 6¾-inch Meissen porcelain Commedia dell'arte figure of Harlequin with gilt decoration opened at $14,000 and ended when it went to a phone bidder for $29,250. Another phone bidder paid $16,380 for a Nineteenth Century German porcelain figure of Harlequin with a bird and a cat that was described as "possibly Meissen." It was made after a model by Johan Friedrich Eberlein, who worked at the Meissen factory. A pair of Derby wine coolers, circa 1780–90, with the "D" mark sold for $4,680, and a pair of Bilston enamel candlesticks, circa 1779, with blue panels on a white ground brought $4,446. A similar pair with green accents was $1,638. A lot of seven English porcelain pieces, including a bow scalloped dish, a Caughley low Chelsea ewer shaped cream boat and a pair of fluted tea bowls, a pair of shell-shaped dishes, together with a porcelain gourd form tureen and cover, brought $4,214, much in excess of the $500/800 estimate.
A Massachusetts Queen Anne mahogany highboy with carved shells and a shaped apron sold on the phone for $25,740, double the high estimate. It had passed through Israel Sack and came from the Carnegie Museum. Also from the Carnegie was a Connecticut oak chest with tulip and sunflower carving, geometric moldings and ebonized half round spindles and bases that was $8,892.
The Eighteenth Century oil on canvas scene, "The Ballymacad Hunt, County Westmeath, Ireland," attributed to English artist James Seymour brought $23,400. The painting was originally a four-panel screen depicting an early hunt and had been mounted on board and measured 65 by 116 inches. A little closer to home was "Lumber Wharf" by Clifford Ashley, which sold for $21,060.
"Still Life with Strawberries in a Bowl" a signed 1895 oil on canvas by Edward Chalmers Leavitt, sold for $6,435, and "Gathering Faggots" by Samuel Colman brought $4,680.
The Massachusetts Queen Anne mahogany highboy might have been made in Salem. Deaccessioned from the Carnegie Museum of Art, it went to a phone buyer for $25,740, double the high estimate.
The Eighteenth Century oil on canvas "The Virgin of the Rosary" by a follower of Murillo attracted $11,700. A pair of Italian baroque wall murals with scenes from Livy's
History of Rome
and attributed to Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Piazzeta sold for $6,435. Each mural measured 99 by 99 inches. The same phone buyer bought a 10-foot-5-inch-by-9-foot-9-inch Italian baroque wall mural depicting the figure of Christ flanked by two women and St Mark attributed to Venetian artist Nicolo Bambini for $4,680.
The phones were active steadily throughout the sale, so much so that at one point, auctioneer Ron Bourgeault paused and thanked the attendees in the gallery for coming along to keep him company.
A Louis XV carved walnut commode with a serpentine front brought $6,728, and an 81-inch Louis XV carved walnut armoire with serpentine paneled drawers was $1,170, while a 79-inch example fetched $936. A Louis XVI carved giltwood bergere with a square back sold on the phone for $8,775. A Louis XVI carved walnut commode was $4,680, and a diminutive Louis XV carved fruitwood commode was $3,218. A Louis XV pair of carved walnut bergeres was $4,680, and a Louis XV painted square back bergere and a companion footstool in the same woven silk upholstery sold for $1,521.
A pair of English neoclassical demilune console tables with white marble tops with Siena marble fan paterae and carved marble panels on the apron sold on the phone for $11,115. A George III carved mahogany window bench in the French taste fetched $7,488, and a George III carved mahogany armchair in ready-to-go condition was $3,510, while a George II carved walnut great chair with a needlepoint seat sold for $6,435.. An English William and Mary chest of drawers with oyster walnut veneer and inlay on ball feet brought $6,435.
A pair of English Chippendale-style carved giltwood table top curio stands in pagoda form attracted $4,914. An Italian neoclassical rosewood parlor suite comprising a settee and a pair of recamier having brass inlay sold for $4,095.
No matter where the market goes, Louis Vuitton springs eternal: A steamer trunk with labels for the Paris and the London shops and retaining the original fitted garment trays sold for $5,850, while an unadorned example was $5,148.
The Irish hunt scene "The Ballymacad Hunt, County Westmeath, Ireland,” attributed to English artist James Seymour, brought $23,400.
A highlight of the silver deaccessioned by the Carnegie Museum and donated by Bruce, was the pair of George III rectangular boxes by William Stroud of London, circa 1802–03, that sold for $7,020. A George II silver sugar bowl and cover by Elizabeth Godfrey, circa 1756–57, brought $3,510, and a George III silver hot milk jug and cover by Thomas Daniel of London, circa 1788–89, elicited $3,744.
A latter half of the Twentieth Century Georg Jensen silver flatware service for 12 in the Cactus pattern that realized $5,850, and two similar Nineteenth Century Turkish silver caskets brought $3,510 against the estimated $1/1,500.
When West Newbury, Mass., dealer Paul DeCoste spotted an English brass, ivory and mahogany orrery by William Jones, he really wanted it. Bidding opened at $500 and he persisted until it was his for $6,084. He was also pleased to capture an English brass, ivory and mahogany cased planetarium, also by William Jones, that he got for $2,106.
An Edward VII planished silver chalice by Omar Ramsden and Alwyn Carr of London, circa 1910–11, with turquoise bosses on the foot drew $3,276, and a circa 1900 pair of signed Galle cameo glass cases in yellow with a dark red overlay brought $3,042.
A bronze figure of a Caucasian horseman smoking a pipe by Evgeny Aleksandrovich went for $4,914. A French terracotta bust of a boy was signed indistinctly and inscribed "Paris" and went for $3,276.
All prices quoted reflect the buyer's premium. For information,
www.northeastauctions.com
or 603-433-8400.
