Bruneau Estate Fine Arts & Antiques Auction
Online Only Monday,
November 15 at 6pm EST
bidlive.bruneauandco.com

CRANSTON, R.I. — Paintings by the renowned Indian artists Maqbool Fida Husain (1915-2011) and B. Prabha (1933-2001) fared so well in past Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers sales, the pair will be back for an encore in the upcoming estate fine art and antiques auction slated for Monday, November 15, online-only, starting at 6 pm Eastern time. More than 325 lots will come up for bid.

In the November 15 auction, the B. Prabha painting titled “Indian Women Painting,” depicting six Indian women with their hair tied back and long limbs, walking through a village, 30½ inches by 77½ inches, has an estimate of $15/20,000. The work is signed by Prabha’s agent, Nayana Sarmalkar. Prabha entered the art world when few Indian women were involved professionally, and worked on more than 50 exhibitions, both inside and outside of India.

The Husain painting is a Cubist figural watercolor depicting a man and woman in bright polychromatic outfits on the back of a white horse. Housed in a 33-by-27-inch frame, the painting should reach $10/15,000. It comes with a certificate of authenticity. Dubbed “the Picasso of India,” Husain started off painting billboard signs in India but quickly developed his own style by blending together folk, tribal and mythological arts.
The auction will feature items pulled from prominent estates and collections across New England, to include artwork, decorative arts, collectibles and Asian arts. “This will be the last fine art and antiques auction of the year, rounding out with some amazing Indian artwork and looking forward to what we find in the New Year,” said Travis Landry, an auctioneer with Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers.

Kevin Bruneau, Bruneau & Co’s president and an auctioneer, added, “The sale consists of several local estates, including a longtime friend’s that features the whimsical statues that everyone gives a high-five to in the gallery.” He was referring to the pair of life-size figural kinetic metal sculptures — one male and one female, comprising painted metal rods, one 6 feet tall and the other 80 inches tall. They should hammer for $800-$1,200.
Three early lots are bound to get paddles wagging right away. They are circus sideshow banners, led by one titled “That Strange Creature Obby Dobby Alive” by Fred G. Johnson (American, 1892-1990), considered the best sideshow circus banner artist in history. The banner, measuring 7 feet 10 inches by 9 feet 7 inches, features a large, colorfully painted iguana in a jungle setting ($2/3,000).
Another example by Jay Meah (American, b 1937), is titled “Fish Girl Devil’s Child” and depicts a blonde mermaid to the top half and a devil baby to the bottom half. The 7-foot-8-inch-by-9-foot-7-inch banner is signed “Meah Studios Weeki-Wachee, Fla.” lower right ($2/3,000). Meah has works in the Smithsonian and the Barnum Museum
By Florida artist Jay Sigler are four banners that will be sold as one lot ($2/3,000). They are titled “Children of Forgotten Fathers, The World’s Strangest Babies”; “Addict Babies” (depicting a baby and a syringe); “Two-Headed Baby” (shown in a crib); and “Human Frog Baby Twins.” The “Addict Babies” banner is signed “J. Sigler Tampa” lower right. The group comes out of a Burrillville, R.I., estate.

A late Nineteenth/early Twentieth Century Malles Goyard large rectangular French steamer trunk that opens to one removable tray with two lidded compartments and one open compartment next to one clothing basket set into a large removable basket over a second removable basket should bring $2,5/3,500. The trunk is marked, “Malles Goyard 233 Rue Saint Honore Paris Monte Carlo Biarritz” on a metal tag and “Goyard” on the top of the lid.
A Nineteenth Century Swiss or Austrian enameled automaton music box, the top of the box decorated with women and sheep beside a lake with landscape cartouches to each side, and the interior of the box having a Viennese movement and red feathered bird that chirps and moves side to side, 2 inches tall and 4¼ inches wide, should sell for $2/3,000.

Also up for bid will be a US 1925 Saint Gaudens $20 gold coin, graded NGC MS 62, housed in a case ($1/2,000); and a Japanese “Thousand Faces” porcelain censer from the late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century ($600/900). The censer boasts a figural three-toed dragon finial mounted to an ornate gilt and tendril lid over a footed censer decorated with a plethora of people, supported by three figural bamboo feet.
For additional information, www.bruneauandco.com or 401-533-9980.

63 4th Avenue
Cranston, RI
Featuring A Single Owner Collection Of Antiques & Collectibles
401-533-9980
info@bruneauandco.com
www.bruneauandco.com