Fontaine’s Fine & Decorative Arts Invitation to Consign
January 29, 2022
1485 West Housatonic Street,
Pittsfield, MA 01201 (Route 20)
www.FontainesAuction.com

PITTSFIELD, MASS. — Fontaine’s Auction Gallery will present its first fine and decorative arts auction of the new year on Saturday, January 29, at 11 am. The sale features Nineteenth and Twentieth Century lighting, art glass, leaded glass windows, silver, marble and bronze statuary, American and European furniture. Buyers may bid online or via the phone and absentee.

More than a dozen fine and rare examples of Tiffany Studios lighting are on offer, led by a Tiffany Studios Byzantine floor lamp ($150/250,000). The leaded glass lamp stands 78 inches tall, and its 26-inch domed shade is decorated with more than 2,000 small copper-foiled glass tiles. The tiles are arranged in an elaborate design made up of four vertical wide bands that form a cross when viewed from above. The elaborate circular and diamond-shaped motifs are consistent with Tiffany’s Byzantine desk set pieces. The parade of Tiffany lighting will continue to march across the block with a Tiffany Studios Clematis chandelier ($80/120,000), 29-inch diameter, and a Tiffany Studios Nautilus desk lamp ($10/15,000) in patinated bronze having a nautilus shell with a Mermaid base cast from a model by Louis Gudebrod, 17 by 4½ by 8 inches, and many other examples.
Tiffany is not the only lighting maker represented in this auction, which will have lamps from a variety of known designers, including a Handel Underwater and Mermaid table lamp ($15/25,000), early Twentieth Century, 21½ inches tall, and a Continental bronze and jewel floor lamp with a figural parrot on a branch embellished with colorful jeweled wings ($10/15,000), 84 by 40 inches.

Fine art offerings, especially those with provenance, will make buyers sit up and take notice, such as a Ralph Wolfe Cowan (American, b 1931), portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy, commissioned by John F. Kennedy ($25/35,000). The oil on board is unsigned but includes a signed letter with dedication to the previous owner, measures 98 by 52½ inches with frame. Also on offer is a patinated bronze sculpture by celebrated Italian mannerist sculptor Giambologna (Italian/Flemish, 1529-1608), depicting Amphitrite, goddess of the sea ($15/25,000), signed “Jean de Bologne” and standing 71 inches tall.

This sale boasts a polychrome-decorated cigar store Indian carving attributed to John L. Cromwell ($12/15,000), 87 by 27 by 21½ inches. From large to small, detailed figures come in all forms and sizes as evinced by an Andre Jean Thuillier doll ($12/15,000), circa 1880, having a composition body with wooden joints and a bisque head, marked “A 15 T,” 36 inches tall. In the Nineteenth Century, hand pressed A.T. dolls were highly sought-after, and typically only affluent families could afford them.

The furniture category is always well represented here and items expected to do well are a monumental American cherry front and back bar ($20/30,000), late Nineteenth Century, which will be sold and shipped from its current home in Riverwoods, Ill., and a Hertz Brothers figural carved oak banquet table ($12/15,000), late Nineteenth Century. The table, having six leaves, is decorated with four winged maidens and signed with firm’s label, 30½ by 59½ by 59½ inches.

Rounding out the auction will be a late Nineteenth Century Continental 800 silver repoussé samovar ($10/15,000), 25¾ by 15½ by 15½ inches, and a late Nineteenth Century Thomas Webb & Sons cut crystal punch bowl ($8/12,000), signed “W. Fritsche,” 10½ by 7¼ inches. William Fristche was one of the firm’s two main engravers in the late 1870s and is credited as one of the finest engravers/cutters of this era and made some of the finest “carved rock crystal” that the firm created.

Fontaine’s Auction Gallery is at 1485 West Housatonic Street (Route 20) For information, www.fontainesauction.com or 413-448-8922.

For online bidding, full lot descriptions, photos and terms of sale, please visit website:
19th and 20th century lighting, art glass, leaded glass windows, timepieces, marble and bronze statuary, American and European furniture, paintings, fine silver, porcelains, gold and diamond jewelry.
Tiffany Studios “Nasturtium” Table Lamp
Tiffany Studios “Clematis” Chandelier
Tiffany Studios “Linenfold” Desk Lamp
Tiffany Studios Seven-Light “Lily” Table Lamp
Tiffany Studios “Vine Border” Table Lamp
Tiffany Studios “Crocus” Table Lamp  
Tiffany Studios “Grapevine” Desk Lamp
Pair of Tiffany Studios Candle Lamps
Tiffany Studios “Turtle-Back” & “Prism” Table Lamp
Tiffany Studios Favrile Glass Candle Lamp
Tiffany Studios Oil Lamp with “Peacock” Chimney
Tiffany Studios “Curtain Border” Floor Lamp
Tiffany Studios “Byzantine” Floor Lamp
Phone: 413-448-8922 • Fax: 413-442-1550 • Email: info@fontainesauction.com
AUCTIONEER: JOHN FONTAINE, Mass. Auctioneers License #327
A+
SINCE 1973