Michaan’s Themes and Variations Auction:
200 Years of Decorative Arts
Friday October 15 at 10am
Previews: Thursday October 14, by appointment
Friday October 15, 9am – 5pm
Bid live, online, phone or by absentee

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download Michaan’s app by visiting bid.michaans.com
www.michaans.com
Ph. (800) 380-9822 • (510) 740-0220

ALAMEDA, CALIF. — Michaan’s auction calendar is jam-packed with events in October, poised to meet demand for fine art and Asian art, estate furnishings and decorations and jewelry. In addition to Michaan’s regularly scheduled monthly gallery and Annex auctions, a special event will be presented on October 15 — Theme and Variations: 200 Years of Decorative Arts featuring property from an Alameda estate.
The sale includes furniture and decorative arts from 1820 to today, in styles as diverse as Georgian, Art Deco and Art Nouveau.

Once upon a time in Menlo Park — in the mid- to late Nineteenth Century, long before there were tech innovators and venture capitalists — there was a handful of vast country retreats, on land acquired by frontier barons from the original Spanish and Mexican rancheros. Michaan’s will auction, on October 15, a bedroom suite made for Thurlow Lodge, a 40-room mansion that was the grandest of the Menlo Park estates.
Attributed to Maison Guéret Frères, Paris, “the design of the circa 1873 japonesque suite is attributed to Herter Brothers, New York, one of America’s first interior design firms. Herter’s client was Milton Slocum Latham, second owner of the magnificent Menlo Park property; Latham’s name appears in pencil markings on various pieces. History aside, the furniture is amazing in its own right, with its fine carving in imitation of bamboo. The queen half tester bed, marble top dresser with large mirror and end table are all crafted of maple with delicate marquetry and faux bamboo details ($4/6,000).
Furniture in the October 15 sale also includes the Art Deco Ruhlmann-style inlaid secretary desk ($3/5,000). A pair of Art Deco wrought and cast iron torchieres attributed to Edgar Brandt is estimated at $2/3,000. Also in this auction is a Wooton desk (($5/7,000). The selection of Neo-Grec furniture from a private collection in Alameda includes a music cabinet ($3/5,000).
Michaan’s has a long history of selling art glass from the studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany. In the October 15 auction, a Tiffany Studios glass cameo vase is estimated at $6/8,000.

From the collections of the historic Filoli estate in Woodside, Calif., a tall sterling silver vase by Shreve & Co. is offered ($4/6,000). Dirk van Erp’s riveted oak tree motif bowl will be sold ($1,5/1,800). From the American decorative arts firm Bradley & Hubbard an Aesthetic Movement brass and enamel four-legged stand is estimated $2/3,000.
Porcelain collectors won’t want to miss the auction on October 15, when Michaan’s will offer several Nineteenth Century porcelain plaques. A large, round circa 1880 Vienna-style charger plaque, elaborately embellished, centers a dramatic historical scene: the capture of queen and royal children after the death in battle of their king. Signed “A. Wallner,” it is estimated $3/4,000. A rectangular Vienna porcelain plaque features a scene from the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, marked “Austria,” signed “M. Morbach” and presented in a carved giltwood frame ($2/3,000). Property from a collector of Napoleon-related porcelain will be offered, as well as porcelain from the early Twentieth Century: a set of 12 Flora Danica plates by Royal Copenhagen ($5/8,000).
Highlights of the October 15 sale also include a French silverplated duck press, a must for the Francophile cook and essential to the creation of caneton à la presse, a specialty of the Tour d’Argent restaurant, Paris. Michaan’s estimates the French silverplated duck press at $2/3,000.
On Saturday, October 16, Michaan’s gallery auction features French bronzes, the paintings of Mexican fine artists, Mughal-style Indian jewelry and rare Chinese cloisonné. Jewelry is the heart of the auction. Highlights include antique emerald, diamond and pearl drop earrings; carved coral and jade jewelry; Victorian pieces of onyx and seed pearls; and high karat Chinese gold jewelry, estate diamonds will be sold. A lady’s French Art Deco enamel and 18K gold wristwatch is a vintage charmer ($400/600).
October’s fine art includes a bronze lion ($3/5,000) by Antoine-Louis Barye (1795-1875), one of the great artists of the French animalier school. Erté’s cold-painted bronze, “La Plume,” is estimated $2/4,000. Paintings include “Flight to the Moon” by Leonardo Nierman (Mexican, b 1932) and a portrait in oil of a young girl by Horacio Renteria Rocha (1912-1972), each estimated at $1/2,000. A selection of American paintings is offered, such as Ira Yeager’s “Sophisticated Dachshund” ($3/5,000). San Francisco artists featured include Anna Elizabeth Klumpke (1856-1942) and Geer Morton (b 1935).

The Asian art department offers a 16-inch Sino-Tibetan bronze deity, seated in meditation on a double-lotus base ($9/15,000). A rare Chinese cloisonné enamel piece has three parts, a stem tray with cup and cover ($800-$1,200), it is decorated in brilliant colors and bears an incised four-character Qianlong mark. A highlight in this sale is the porcelain water buffalo with oxblood flambé glaze, modeled in a recumbent position ($1,5/2,500). famille rose porcelains and carved jade will also be sold.

Previews are October 14-16. Michaan’s Auctions is at 2751 Todd Street. For information, 510-740-0220 or www.michaans.com.Gallery Showroom: 2751 Todd St, Alameda, CA 94501
Annex Showroom: 2701 Monarch St, Alameda, CA 94501
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Judaica Hazorfim Regency Style Sterling Silver Large Menorah. Estimate: $1,000 / 1,500
Dirk Van Erp Riveted Oak Tree Motif Large Bowl. Estimate: $1,500 / 1,800
Vienna Style Porcelain Charger Plaque Signed A Wallner. Estimate: $3,000 / 4,000
French Neoclassical Gagneau & Cie Gilt Bronze Table Lamp. Estimate: $500 / 700
9th Century Vienna Porcelain Plaque, Spoils of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. Estimate: $2,000 / 3,000
Tiffany Studios Cameo Glass Vase. Estimate: $6,000 / 8,000
Japonesque Maple and Bird’s Eye Maple Faux Bamboo Bedroom Suite
attributed to Guerét Frères via a commission from Herter Bros.
Marked LATHAM and was for Thurlow Lodge.
Estimate: $4,000 / 6,000