Achieving top-lot status was this Chinese famille rose three goats porcelain bowl on yellow sgraffito ground that attained $11,590 ($500-$1,000).
Review by Andrea Valluzzo
WINDSOR, CONN. — Nadeau’s Major Fall Chinese, Shaker & Americana auction on October 24 comprised 534 lots with a good mix of material and genres, but, like cream, Asian material definitely rose to the top.
More than 140 lots of Asian decorative arts, most from China and some from Japan, comprised the grouping. The leader of the offerings, and also the auction’s top lot overall, was a Chinese famille rose three goats porcelain bowl on yellow sgraffito ground that soared over its conservative $500/$1,000 estimate to bring $11,590. Decorated with auspicious symbols and floral motifs, the diminutive bowl, measuring 2½ inches tall with a 6-inch diameter, had an underglaze blue six-character Daoguang seal mark to the base. A good client of Nadeau’s based in China brought this lot back home, said Josh Lynch, Nadeau’s director of operations, who added, “Overall, the sale was a good reflection of the current state of antique furnishings.”
Other standouts among Chinese porcelain were a fine porcelain bottle vase with a pear-shaped body and flared rim, decorated in underglaze copper red with flowering chrysanthemum and scrolling foliage, that brought $9,150; and a square-section celadon glazed cong-form porcelain vase with a cylindrical neck and molded elephant-head handles suspending rings in an allover pale celadon glaze with crackle, going out at $6,710.
Topping a selection of American artworks was this Albert Bierstadt photogravure on paper “The Last of the Buffalo,” after his 1888 painting, that made $8,540 ($5/10,000).
Turning to American artworks, an Albert Bierstadt photogravure on paper of “The Last of the Buffalo,” after his 1888 painting of the same subject, sold within estimate at $8,540. The signed picture depicted a Native American hunter on horseback, spearing a buffalo amid other hunters and buffalo. Published by Bierstadt, the 1891 image was likely printed by Goupil & Company in Paris. Bringing the same price was a Thomas Chambers (American, 1808-1869) oil on canvas, “View of Nahant,” that depicted a dramatic Massachusetts coastline.
The Shaker category was topped by an oval box that was marked with an interesting inscription: “Absent or dead still, let a friend be dear, the living claim a sigh, the dead a tear. July 28, 1837.” It sold for $7,320. Deaccessioned from the Enfield (Conn.) Historical Society, the box measured 2 by 5 by 3 inches. “This was the best surprise of the sale, as it was one of the more valuable Shaker pieces we have sold in recent years,” Lynch said. “It was great to see it went to a good home with an avid Shaker collector. The price seemed to be driven by the interior poem, its rare color and its finish.”
Rounding out the auction highlights was a Commeraw stoneware crock having two handles and cobalt blue swags at $8,540. Lynch commented that it was great to see a stoneware piece do well in an overall soft market.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.nadeausauction.com or 860-246-2444.
