Thomas Moran is one of those artists whose work could be used in modern day marketing for the tourism industry. There are few who could capture the natural world on canvas with any sort of equivalency. He was so fundamentally attached with the scenes of the American West that his nickname became Thomas “Yellowstone” Moran and he would go on to develop the monogram TYM to sign some of his paintings produced after 1872. Compared to the European landscape, N.K. Anderson’s Thomas Moran quotes the artist in a statement to New York World, “I looked at the Alps, but they are nothing compared to the majestic grandeur of our wonderful Rockies. I have painted them all my life and I shall continue to paint them as long as I can hold a brush.” Moran could paint anything. In the very same year that the artist lost his only son, he painted a maritime sunset that captures the spectacular encore act of the sunlight fading into the uncertain hands of a tumultuous sea. That painting joins other top lots from across the United States in this week’s picks.
BONHAMS
Sale Date: May 24, 2017
Lot 54
Thomas Moran (1837–1926)
“Sunset at Sea,” oil on canvas, 24-3/8 by 30-3/8 inches.
Estimate: $200/300,000
JEFFREY S. EVANS
Sale Date: May 20, 2017
Lot 368
Sandwich Frosted Madonna Night-Clock Lamp
Colorless, pressed figural Madonna standard raised on a ribbed base with scallop and point foot, original nickeled connector supporting the clockwork mechanism with small pendulum and tapered clock hand, and original translucent powder blue ball-form shade painted with black Roman numerals I through XII over a horizontal band divided into quarters, top with perforated nickeled centering/draft ring. Original brass key. Fitted with an Olmstead kerosene font, burner and chimney. Together with an extra key. Boston & Sandwich Glass Co., 1870–85, 14-3/8 inches high.
Estimate: $4/6,000
COTTONE AUCTIONS
Sale Date: May 19, 2017
Lot 164
Joseph Ives Shelf Clock, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mahogany and ebonized case with carved paw feet and gilt-brass rosettes. Original painted paper on wood dial, signed Joseph Ives, N.Y., eight-day time and strike wagon spring movement, 29 inches high.
Estimate: $10/15,000
AUCTION NEW ENGLAND
Sale Date: May 20, 2017
Lot 41
Stoneware Lion Presentation Jug With Serpent Handle
Incised “Trader Thompson” and stamped “K,” height 8 inches. Consignor present when jug was purchased by grandmother in Princeton, Ill., in 1959.
Estimate: $20/40,000
RAGO
Sale Date: May 20–21, 2017
Lot 2172
Michael Coffey Tête-à-Tête Game Table
Massachusetts, 1986, African Mozambique ebony, holly and leather, leather and marble game pieces, signed and dated.
Estimate: $15/25,000
OAKRIDGE AUCTION GALLERY
Sale Date: May 20, 2017
Lot 111
A Boxed Lehmann Man-Da-Rin
Beautiful, original condition with light aging. Toy works perfectly. This is the early version with painted figures and external rails. Original box is complete with no restoration.
Estimate: $2/3,000
CARLSEN GALLERY
Sale Date: May 21, 2017
Lot 86
Ammi Phillips (American, 1788–1865)
Portrait of Mary Hoyt, oil on canvas, circa 1836.
Estimate: $10/20,000
BRUNK
Sale Date: May 20, 2017
Lot 1185
David Brega (American, b 1948)
“Charge,” 1986, signed lower right “David Brega,” oil on Masonite, 25 by 15 inches; Nineteenth Century giltwood frame, commissioned from Lowy, New York.
Estimate: $8/12,000
J. JAMES AUCTIONS
Sale Date: May 20, 2017
Lot 110
Signed Letter, George Washington, May 15, 1776
George Washington autographed letter to Dr Samuel Stringer of Albany, N.Y., May 15, 1776, acknowledging receipt of Dr Stringer’s request for medical supplies. Ink on paper with clear handwritten signature. This letter highlights the multiple problems facing General Washington at this time — the condition of American forces in Canada, the perennial lack of supplies and bickering within the ranks. Dr Stringer, appointed by Congress as director of the hospital in Albany, served in General Philip Shuler’s Army of the Northern Department as chief physician and surgeon.
Estimate: $20/40,000
