On September 17, Cottone Auctions held its annual fall fine art sale, which featured items from the collections of the former Campbell-Whittlesey House Museum, the Strong Museum, the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester and the Thomas Buechner estate. The sale totaled $1.8 million, with just over 350 lots sold.
The top lot of the auction was an early rhinoceros horn libation cup carved with herons, various birds and flowers. The cup sold to a Chinese bidder for $230,000, nearly ten times over its estimate.
Paintings rounded out the sale’s top lots, with a folk art portrait attributed to William Matthew Prior, an example that descended in the family of the original owners, selling for $172,500. A pair of Old Master paintings from the Campbell-Whittlesey House Museum, of ruins, towers and waterways, went soaring above its estimate to finish at $126,500.
Other fine art standouts included Lyonel Feininger’s “Im Dorfe” watercolor, which sold for $97,750, while Joseph C. Leyendecker’s “Drum Major” from the Buechner estate reached $41,400. Marc Chagall’s color lithographs “Lamon Discovers Daphnis” and “The Wine Harvest” from Daphnis and Chloë, brought $23,000 each.
In the decorative arts, the highlight was a monumental Newcomb pottery vase carved with roses on a trellis background that came in just under six figures at $92,000. Tiffany was represented with a decorated vase that featured millefiore flowers with leaf and vine, bringing $37,950.
Another highlight was a fine Sevres jewelry casket, sold to benefit the Strong’s collections fund. The gilt-bronze casket with its painted porcelain panels brought $7,015. Highlighting silver was a Richard Humphrey sterling silver drum-shaped teapot. This Eighteenth Century example from Philadelphia sold for $15,525. Rounding out the decorative arts category was an Allen Houser bronze titled “Navajo,” which brought $36,800.
Furniture offerings were led by two carved pieces both coming from the same Buffalo, N.Y., family. The first was a walnut desk by Luigi Mastrodonato that had carvings depicting architecture, theater, literacy, astrology, arts and music. It sold to a phone bid overseas for $15,525. The second piece was a monumental Victorian carved walnut bed by Luigi Frullini that featured frolicking cherubs, birds, owls, bats, reclining nude, poppies, climbing ivy, flowers and stars. It sold on the floor for $28,750.
All prices reported include the buyer’s premium.
For additional information, www.cottoneauctions.com or 585-243-3100.
Cottone is accepting consignments for its winter fine arts sale that will feature the Thomas Buechner estate. Buechner was the former director of the Brooklyn Museum and was also the founding director of The Corning Museum of Glass.
