Art Deco cameo glass
perfume bottle, $8,050.
Doyle
Includes Single-Owner Collection of Perfume Bottles in Belle
Epoque Sale
NEW YORK CITY - On Wednesday, June 6, Doyle New York featured
decorative arts from the Gilded Age at an auction of La Belle
Epoque. Among the selection of furniture, bronzes, candelabra,
porcelain, silver, rugs, and fin-de-siecle paintings were 80 lots
of perfume bottles from a single-owner collection.
Among perfume bottles, collectors vied heavily for the top lot,
an Art Deco cameo glass bottle in orange with gilt-stylized
flowers and a cloisonne-mounted stopper, which achieved $8,050.
Also popular with bidders was a figural bottle of a playful
bichon frise designed by Christian Dior that fetched $6,325.
Entitled "J'Appartiens a Miss Dior (I belong to Miss Dior)," this
was a deluxe presentation commemorating the 10th anniversary of
the House of Dior and was shaped after the designer's own bichon
frise. The hanging label at its neck bears its title, and a paper
label under the cushion is numbered in Roman numerals and signed
"Tian Dior" (Dior's nickname) in his own handwriting.
The Paris perfumeur Jean Desprez presented the perfume Votre Main
in 1939. This deluxe presentation is made of fine white porcelain
and is shaped like a hand with a pink rose porcelain stopper. The
bottle came in four sizes, and a group of three that were offered
in the sale was purchased for $6,325.
From the Victorian era and in the Egyptian Revival style was a
pair of gilt-incised ebonized wood pedestals, circa 1870, from
Kimbel & Cabus (1876-82), that realized $21,850. Each gold
and black pedestal is set with busts of Egyptian women. The New
York City firm of Kimbel & Cabus was among the first in
America to work extensively in the Modern Gothic mode.
Other highlights included an interesting desk that is highly
sought after by collectors, the Wooton patent walnut desk. The
example in the sale achieved $14,950. The Wooton desk is best
known for its large number of interior compartments that allow
records and office supplies to be stored conveniently in one
area.
Christian Dior perfume bottle in the form of a Bichon Frisee,
$6,325.
The desk's design provided an ingenious solution to the
businessman's increasing problem of organization and satisfied
the Victorian love for order. It came in four grades, ordinary,
standard, extra, and superior, the ornamentation increasing with
each higher grade. John D. Rockefeller, Ulysses S. Grant, Joseph
Pulitzer, and perhaps even Queen Victorian owned one. The example
in the sale was most likely a standard grade.
Another desk capturing the bidder interest was a Carlo Bugatti
(Italian, 1856-1940) desk and chair en suite that was purchased
by a French bidder for $14,950. This stylish desk bears copper
wrapped elements and is further mounted with suede and
mother-of-pearl.
The cover lot of the sale was a bronze and alabaster bust of a
proud female warrior by the most famous Viennese sculptor of
bronzes, Carl Kauba (1865-1922). The figure, which has an
elaborate polychrome helmet and a lion drapery resting on the
marble base, was competitively bid to $17,250.
Also of note was a Louis XVI-style gilt-bronze and cut glass
12-light chandelier that sold for $16,100. Standing out among the
art glass was a Lalique Alicant glass vase designed in 1927 and
molded with parakeets that realized $9,200.
Of the ceramics, a Newcomb high glaze pottery vase decorated by
Hattie Joor in an elongated ovoid form with incised irises took
the top lot at $10,350.
A selection of silver was led by a Georg Jensen sterling silver
after-dinner tea and coffee service in the "Blossom" pattern that
achieved $11,500. The sale also offered a selection of Judaica, a
highlight of which was a continental silver charity box in the
form of a mausoleum, which brought $3,162.
