Pair of early Twentieth Century French Empire (or Neoclassical-style) bronze and bronze dore 12-light candelabra depicting winged Victory with outstretched arms holding two torches ($27,225).
Photos Courtesy Ahlers & Ogletree
ATLANTA, GA. — A pair of early Twentieth Century French Empire (or Neoclassical-style) bronze 12-light Victory candelabra sold for $27,225 at a two-day, two-session auction of the estates of Atlanta-area notables Fred Bentley Sr of Marietta, Ga., and Vectra Orkin Barnette of Atlanta, in the sale that took place November 10-11 at Ahlers & Ogletree.
Fred Bentley Sr was a cherished local politician, art collector, patriarch and philanthropist. His estate boasted important American paintings, fine antique furniture, decorative arts, Chinese export porcelain, antiquities from Rome and Greece, and paintings by Thomas Worthington Whittredge, Herman Herzog, Charles Peale, Thomas Sully, Hugh B. Jones and Edward Hopper.
Items from the Bentley estate were offered on November 10. More items from his estate will be sold at future Ahlers & Ogletree auctions. Day Two, November 11, featured the estate of Vectra Orkin Barnette, an avid lifetime collector of fine antiques and decorative arts from Italy, France and China. The 12-light figural candelabra came out of the Barnette estate.
Pair of large Chinese export famille rose enameled porcelain jardinieres, Eighteenth Century, having lion mask handles, decorated with blooming florals and birds and interiors decorated with koi ($27,225).
The candelabra ended up being one of two overall top lots of the two days, as bidders were drawn to the figural depictions of a standing winged Victory with outstretched arms holding two torches, each supported on a cream marble base having repeating bronze wreaths and raised on a gilt metal plinth. The candelabra were apparently unmarked and measured 55½ inches tall by 23¾ inches in width.
Numerous additional highlights marked the 843-lot auction, which attracted around 50-100 live bidders, while online bidding was made available. Approximately 50 phone bids were also recorded.
The same high price of $27,225 was realized by a pair of large Eighteenth Century Chinese export famille rose enameled porcelain jardinieres having lion mask handles and decorated with blooming florals and birds, the interiors decorated with koi. The jardinieres, apparently unmarked, stood on wooden stands. Together, the jardinieres and stands were 29½ inches tall. A large Chinese export, gilt bronze mounted, blue ground porcelain jardiniere, having reserves decorated with birds in a flowering garden made $24,200.
A late Nineteenth Century pair of unmarked French Louis XVI-style six-light gilt and patinated bronze figural candelabra in the manner of Michel Claude Clodion (French, 1723-1814), depicting a male and female satyr, each holding a cornucopia transforming into acanthine arms, and raised on foliate and wreath decorated round bronze plinths, 50¾ inches tall, changed hands for $20,570.
Late Eighteenth or early Nineteenth Century Chinese export Mandarin palette porcelain punch bowl having Rococo reserves decorated with figures in a landscape alternating with roosters and other birds ($11,495).
A late Eighteenth to early Nineteenth Century Chinese export Mandarin palette porcelain punch bowl, having Rococo reserves decorated with figures in a landscape alternating with roosters and other birds, the well with a figural scene, having no apparent marks, perched on a wooden stand, realized $11,495.
A set of four Sèvres French gilded soft paste porcelain plates, 1784, having a gilded Bleu Celeste lip with reserves containing various floral sprays encircling a maroon roundel framed by a band of pearls surrounding three roses, likely from a 288-piece dinner service presented by Louis XVI to his brother-in-law Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, Governor of Lombardy, in 1786, brought $10,890.
A pair of Louis XVI Revival gilt and patinated bronze and malachite veneer Athenienne brule-parfums, attributed to Henry Dasson (French, 1825-1896), each having a foliate and fruit finial, reticulated band, the bowl supported by three female herm with monopodia holding floral garlands, resting on a gadrooned concave plinth, and rising on toupie feet, apparently unmarked, commanded $9,680.
The top lot from the Fred Bentley Sr estate on Day 1 was this oil on canvas laid to board painting by John Joseph Enneking (American, 1841-1916), titled “Spring Landscape” (1901) ($9,075).
The top lot from the Fred Bentley Sr estate on Day 1 was an oil on canvas laid to board painting by John Joseph Enneking (American, 1841-1916), titled “Spring Landscape” (1901), depicting a spring scene of blossoming trees in the foreground and a small valley in the background, signed and dated lower right, in a gilt frame. The work was sold for $9,075.
A large patinated bronze bust depicting Benjamin Franklin (American, 1706-1790) after Jean-Antoine Houdon (French, 1741-1828), on a socle plinth base, marked in mold “F. Barbedienne Fondeur Paris France” to right and “Houdon” to left of the figure, 22 inches tall, rose to $7,260.
An oil on canvas painting by Hermann Herzog (German/American, 1832-1932), titled “Fisherman on a Mountain Lake,” depicting two fishermen on the banks of a lake with snow-capped mountains in the background (possibly Lake Lucerne), signed to lower right, with a Chapellier Galleries label on verso, housed in a gilt frame measuring 22 by 28¾ inches, found a new home for $6,050.
Chinese rosewood and jade ruyi scepter, the undulating rosewood frame inset with three pale celadon jade plaques, the top plaque of ruyi form, the middle of rectangular form ($3,932).
A Chinese rosewood and jade ruyi scepter, the undulating rosewood frame inset with three pale celadon jade plaques, the top plaque of ruyi form, the middle of rectangular form and the final plaque of ruyi form, each carved with figures in landscapes, the whole mounted in a custom shadow box frame, found a new home for $3,932.
An oil on canvas painting by Enoch Wood Perry Jr (American, 1831-1915), titled “The Lonely Monk (Cloister in Palermo)” (1905), depicting a single monk seated among flowers outside an Abbey, signed and dated lower left, measuring 25 by 30¼ inches (canvas, less frame), hit $3,328.
Ahlers & Ogletree will conduct its New Year’s Signature Estates & Collections auction, and an auction of Rare Books & Important Documents from the estate of Fred Bentley Sr in January. All will be held online and live in the Atlanta gallery, 1788 Ellsworth Industrial Blvd. For information, 404-869-2478 or www.aandoauctions.com.
