Can you imagine using a piece of civic architecture as a headboard? That was exactly how this monumental Continental Neoclassical-style stained walnut figural overdoor clock was used by its previous owners. An international collector, bidding online, may find a new purpose for it; it brought $50,000, the top price in the sale ($15/20,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring, Catalog Photos Courtesy Andrew Jones Auctions
LOS ANGELES – Andrew Jones Auctions’ December 6 “Design for the Home and Garden” auction featured 280 lots that totaled $1,026,437 and was 91 percent sold by lot. Phone and absentee bidding were offered, with online bidding available on Invaluable, LiveAuctioneers and the firm’s proprietary platform. Despite the relatively small size of the sale, according to Aileen Ward, vice president and senior specialist at Andrew Jones Auctions, it still took several hours to finish. That said, she was upbeat when we reached her by phone the day after the sale.
“It was a great sale. Bidding was really strong, but it was a marathon for everyone involved.”
Large estates were the source of several of the top lots. Large in the sense that the works came out of sprawling abodes. Leading the sale was a Nineteenth Century Continental Neoclassical-style stained walnut figural overdoor clock flanked by reclining figures of Diana and Venus, that sold to an international collector, bidding online, for $50,000. Aptly described as monumental as it stood 71 inches tall and stretched more than 100 inches long, Ward thought it had possibly been made for the lobby of a civic building. It came from the Rancho Mirage, Calif., estate of art historian Dr Terry Berreth, who had apparently used it as a headboard. Interest in the piece came from across the United States as well as from France, Italy and London.
This red ochre chandelier by Dale Chihuly (American, b 1941) stood 38 inches high and was accompanied by authentication documentation; it sold to a private collector in Florida, for $45,000 ($40/60,000).
Other notable works from the Berreth estate included a late Nineteenth Century Italian Carrara marble model of the Venus de Medici that realized $16,250, an English Carrara marble bust of the Capitoline Venus, done by William Theed in 1848, that reached $15,000, and, bringing $8,750, a late Nineteenth Century Louis XV-style gilt-bronze mounted tulipwood and amaranth bureau plat by Parisian ebeniste, L. Cuenières.
A palatial residence in Montecito, Calif., was the source of additional sale highlights. Among these were two large Sultanabad carpets, one measuring 13 feet 4 inches by 19 feet 3 inches that sold to a Los Angeles decorator for $35,000, the other of roughly the same size that made $26,250. A pair of late Nineteenth Century Italian Rococo-style giltwood mirrors that each measured 69 inches high and 46 inches wide was aptly described as “impressive” and made enough of an impression on bidders to exceed their high estimate, selling for $18,750 to a private collector in the United States. A pair of vintage red velvet sofas from the same consignor appealed to a broad audience, bringing $11,250, more than ten times the low estimate for the lot.
Contemporary design offerings were topped by a red and gold blown glass chandelier by Dale Chihuly, which a Kansas City, Mo., collector had acquired in 1997 from the Leedy Voulkos Art Center in Kansas City, Mo. A Chihuly collector in Florida took the complex piece for $45,000, within estimate. A painting titled “Beach 50” by Taiwanese artist Hilo Chen (b 1942) came from a Bel Air, Calif., estate and closed at $11,875, nearly double its high estimate.
The condition of this large Nineteenth Century Sultanabad carpet was poor but it saw competition from private collectors, decorators and members of the rug trade before selling to a Los Angeles decorator for $35,000 ($4/6,000).
Two seasonally appropriate snowy oil on Masonite landscapes by American folk artist Anna Mary Robertson (Grandma) Moses were featured in the sale, both of which were from the Los Angeles estate of Keith McCoy, who had acquired both from Sotheby’s Los Angeles sales. “The Bridge,” which was done in 1958 and measured 12 by 16 inches, brought $32,500, while “We’ll go Broadyes” from 1948, which measured just 6 by 7¼ inches, finished at $20,000. The larger was purchased by a collector in the Southern United States, while the smaller is going to a new home with a New England private collector.
Ward was surprised by the response to two complex drawings by Manolo Valdes, (Spanish, b 1942), which were offered consecutively and which realized $5,000 and $9,375, respectively. Both sold to separate buyers in the United States.
Among smaller tabletop sized lots, notable results would be remiss without mentioning a circa 1900 Anglo-Indian carved hardwood maquette of the Muhafiz Khan Mosque that brought $13,750 and an extensive set of contemporary Royal Copenhagen porcelain in the Blue Fluted Full Lace pattern that was separated into nine lots, of which the top price went for a pair of six-light candelabra that realized $12,500.
Andrew Jones Auctions’ next sale is scheduled for January, the date and content to be announced.
For information, 213-748-8008 or www.andrewjonesauctions.com.
