Tiffany wisteria chandelier, $409,500.
Nyphemburg Views dinner service, $13,225.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A rare and important Tiffany chandelier drew much attention when it went on the auction block at Sloan’s Furniture, Decorative Arts, Silver & Carpet Sale on Wednesday, July 11, at 10 am. The sale consisted of 665 lots.
The star lot, a Tiffany wisteria laburnum leaded glass chandelier, circa 1899-1920, once belonged to Senator Edward W. Brooke. It has a shade which is a rare combination of the wisteria pattern and coloration in the laburnum form. This was one of the most technically intricate shades produced by Tiffany. Only two other examples of this shade are known to exist. A captivated audience watched eagerly, and after heavy bidding the chandelier, which had a pre-sale estimate of $250/350,000, eventually sold for $409,500.
Other notable auction highlights include a 59-piece Nymphenburg named Views porcelain part dinner service, estimated at $3,5/4,500. The Nineteenth Century dinner service was composed of 37 dinner plates, 16 salad plates, a reticulated bowl, an octagonal dish, one reticulated dessert plate, a 12-sided dish, one shaped tray, and one demitasse. Each piece, ornately decorated with oval medallions finely painted with landscape or architectural scenes, eventually realized after much competitive bidding an outstanding $13,225.
Also rising above its pre-sale estimate was an extensive capo di monte porcelain dinner service from the first quarter of the Twentieth Century. This dinner service was composed of 12 service plates, 12 dinner plates, 12 bread and butter plates, five handled cream soups, five handled clear soups, five covered and handled bouillons and saucers with one extra cover, 12 tea cups and saucers, one rectangular tray, one tazza, a teapot, and a covered sugar and creamer. Each plate and the bouillon cups and saucers were centered with various polychrome heraldic crests and all pieces were elaborately molded with brilliantly painted classical figures, highlighted with gilt. The complete service sold for $6,325 against a pre-sale estimate of $2,5/3,500.
Another strong performer at the sale was an English thuya-wood marquetry, part-ebonized ormolu-mounted reverse-breakfront credenza, from the second quarter of the Nineteenth Century. Estimated at $4/6,000, this lot fetched $11,040.
Carpets sold included a Kerman carpet from Southeast Persia, circa 1960 (approximately 15 by 13 feet), which surpassed its pre-sale estimate of $800/1,200 and realized $3,105, and a Turkish carpet, circa mid-Twentieth Century (approximately 15 feet 8 inches by 11 feet 3 inches), estimated at $600/800 eventually sold for $1,955.
