“Illusion” by Kattingeri Krishna Hebbar will be returning to India, with a buyer there who paid $220,150 for it. It was the sale’s top lot ($100/150,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring
SUDBURY, MASS — “Our sale brought in over $1 million ($1,022,000 to be exact) and had some big highlights,” said Matt Buckley, one of Tremont Auctions’ co-owners. The 618-lot sale, which took place on October 26, was — according to Cameron Ayotte, one of the firm’s other co-owners — nearly 96 percent sold.
Jewelry, silver and watches began the day and saw the first of its highest prices in an antique Indian 18K gold jhoomar (traditional head ornament) with kundun (gold foil work combined with gemstones) decoration that weighed a total of 163 grams and came from a local estate. Ayotte confirmed it will be staying in the United States with a buyer bidding by phone who paid $20,230.
Of the sizeable silver section — more than 50 lots — a five-piece hand-chased tea set in the Francis I pattern by Reed & Barton topped off the category with a $10,710 result. The teapot, coffee pot, creamer, covered sugar and 30-inch handled tray was purchased by a US bidder.
An even dozen men’s watches on offer that Ayotte said were largely from the same collection were capped by a Waldan International 18K gold Swiss-made chronograph wristwatch that was accompanied by its original box and paperwork and sold to a buyer bidding on the Tremont website, for $13,640.
This 18K gold Waldan International chronograph wristwatch had a two-button chronograph with day, month and date calendar and moon phases. Though not currently working, it came with its original box and paperwork and realized $13,640 from an online buyer ($5/7,000).
“It was the star of the show,” Ayotte told Antiques and The Arts Weekly about the auction’s top lot, an abstract composition by modern Indian painter, Kattingeri Krishna Hebbar (1911-1996). The 30-by-35½-inch unframed oil on stretched canvas, titled “Illusion,” came to auction from a local seller whose parents had known the artist and it was accompanied by three other exhibition catalogs, one of which was inscribed by the artist with a personalized dedication to the seller’s parents. The painting attracted significant attention and ultimately sold to a buyer from India, bidding by phone, for $220,150.
Other paintings also had strong results. An in-house bidder had the winning bid of $17,850 for a Sixteenth or Seventeenth Century Italian School painting of the Madonna and Christ with St John that was painted in oil on wood panel. It had been discovered in a collection in Natick, Mass., along with some of the other Old Master paintings in the sale.
Aldro T. Hibbard’s (American, 1886-1972) landscape of a New England village in winter, oil on board, was a nod towards the impending season and an online bidder on Tremont’s platform prevailed against competitors with their $6,820 bid.
Comparatively new artwork was led by Beverly McIver’s (American, b 1962) expressionistic but untitled oil on canvas painting of an African American woman celebrating. It closed out above expectations, at $10,160, from a US buyer bidding online.
Painted in 2003, this untitled oil on canvas composition by Beverly McIver measured 60 by 60 inches and brought $10,160 from an online bidder ($5/7,000).
The furniture category was fairly small compared to other sections and were highlighted by an Art Nouveau rosewood two-tier triangle table by Louis Majorelle that was the first of three similar tables; all of the tables had provenance to New York City dealer Lillian Nassau. The highest price of the group was $10,115, from a local buyer.
Of comparable vintage to the tables was an Art Nouveau color lithograph by Alphonse Mucha titled “La Primevere.” Framed in a desirable period oak frame with bronze Art Nouveau floral mounts, bidders overlooked some minor condition issues and it will be going to a private collector, who outbid others at $6,545.
Prices for early American furniture were modest, except for two carved walnut Eastlake wall regulators — one by Seth Thomas, the other by E. Howard & Company — both of which sold to the same clock collector bidding online for $8,890 and $6,985, respectively.
The sale offered a small but choice variety of lighting. Bringing the most of them was a Handel Greek Ruins table lamp with a reverse-painted Chipped Ice glass shade impressed “Handel” on its collar, on a Japanese aesthetic form cast and patinated base. A buyer in the US more than tripled its high estimate with a $9,525 bid.
This Handel table lamp with a reverse-painted glass shade brought $9,525 from a US buyer ($2/3,000).
Though a pair of rare dark green whale oil lamps with fonts brought $4,760, they all but multiplied their $800 high estimate by nearly six times and found a new home with a local buyer.
Russian works of art usually have a strong appeal to collectors and all but one of the 18 Russian pieces — both fine and decorative works — found new homes. Leading the group with a $5,334 result was a Russian Imperial yataghan-type hunting knife having a purple velvet sheath with gold ornamentation and inscribed on the blade “Zlatoust 1876”; it was one of three Russian edged weapons.
Russian porcelains were capped at $4,760 by a single Nineteenth Century coffee cup and saucer gilded and hand painted with a genre view of a merchant. It is going to a private collector.
Tremont Auctions’ Fall Asian Art & Antiques auction will take place on November 23.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 617-795-1678 or www.tremontauctions.com.
