The top lot at Direct Auction Galleries’ September 9 sale was a lively painting by Eugenio Zampighi that attained $57,500. The 29-by-41-inch painting was from a Chicago estate and depicted a festive family scene with an old accordion player and a baby being danced on his mother’s lap as other family members look on.
The Zampighi was one of more than 700 lots of higher-end art, furniture, jewelry, coins and collectibles. Other fine art standouts were an Edwin Harris “Girl With Basket and Blossoms” that sold for $11,500, a W.H. Bartlett painting of two lakeside cabins for $5,175, a large Eduard Huguenin-Lassanguette painting of a cabin in the Swiss Alps at $3,565 and a card playing scene circa Eighteenth Century after Teniers for $2,990.
Works by other international artists depicting landscapes, still life, genre and daily life scenes and portraiture included G. Maani, Alfred E. Stevens, Arnaldo Tamburini, E. Percy Moran, George Stainton, J. Harris, de Koninck, Henry Schouten, Paul Schouten, Frank Rollin Smith, Angelo Asti, D. van Loo, F. Rezia and Alois Arnegger.
For furniture, an unusual early Flemish hand painted chest with painted landscapes and an early Italian tall cabinet with wrought iron doors each sold for $2,012, an early carved Italian marble top credenza went for $1,725 and a six-piece carved barley twist bedroom set sold for $1,380.
Among smaller items, a 43-inch-tall antique Venetian blackamoor figure sold for $2,530, a 22-inch Victorian marble bust of a woman with an artist’s palette by R. Batteli brought $1,725, a pair of black marble urn lamps with bronze decoration and horned Centaur heads also sold for $1,725, and a signed 10-inch diameter Lalique bowl with cherub designs and lighted base took $1,092.
An old Edison stock ticker emblazoned “Quotations Furnished by Western Union Telegraph” sold for $8,625.
Items came from estates and consignments in Chicago, Indiana and other locales. Bids came from the tri-state area, Michigan, and coast-to-coast from New York to California, and as far away as Scotland, Italy and Great Britain.
“With the current economic conditions,” says Direct Auction Galleries’ John R. Modica, “We’re seeing more items and a greater influx of quality items coming in for auction. It’s both a buyer’s and seller’s market because of the items that are surfacing for sale.”
All prices reported include the 15 percent buyer’s premium. Direct Auction Galleries is at 7232 North Western Avenue. For information, www.directauction.com or 773-465-3300.
