Case Auctions – Two-Day Fine Art & Antiques Auction
January 28 & 29
Knoxville, TN
www.caseauctions.com
bid@caseauctions.com
865-558-3033

KNOXVILLE, TENN. — Case’s winter auction features an eclectic splash of Twentieth Century art, set against a backdrop of traditional antiques, including a noted estate collection of Eighteenth Century American furniture, a trove of rare books, maps and documents and an array of European and Southern decorative arts. The two-day cataloged sale is set for January 28-29 at the company’s headquarters in Knoxville and contains more than 1,200 lots. Bidders may participate in person or absentee, by phone and online.

African American art figures prominently, headlined by a midcentury portrait of a bearded man by Knoxville-born Abstract Expressionist Beauford Delaney and a carved limestone garden ornament by William Edmondson, the Nashville sculptor who became the first Black artist to have a solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. The Edmondson piece, in the form of a dipper or cup, was exhibited in the Tennessee State Museum’s 1981 retrospective and was originally owned by the Nashville-based arts journalist Louise LeQuire. A Merton Simpson abstract oil and a Geoffrey Holder portrait are also for sale, along with a mountain oil sketch by Grafton Tyler Brown, known as the first Black artist to paint landscapes of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. And there are three works by self-taught Kentucky artist Helen Lafrance, including one of her “Church Picnic” scenes.

The European art category is highlighted by a Rembrandt etching, “Old Man with Divided Fur Cap.” There are seven Impressionist influenced oil landscapes and two lots of drawings by Joseph Wopfner (Austrian, 1843-1927), all of which have descended in his family. There are also figurative oil paintings by Pierre Duval Le Camus and Alberto Fabbi; English horse portraits by William Henry Davis and James Clark, and European landscapes by Charles Cottet, Bernard Viegers, Augustus B. Koopman and Lucien Delarue.

One of the most noteworthy American paintings in this auction is a triple portrait by Susannah Paine, a female itinerant painter working in the New England area in the first half of the Nineteenth Century, whose work rarely comes to auction.

Regional art highlights include a large and detailed still life by Cornelius Hankins of Tennessee, Smoky Mountain landscapes by Louis Jones and Jacob Anchutin, expressionist works by Charles Kermit Ewing, Carl Sublett and Walter Hollis Stevens (all members of the so-called “Knoxville Seven”), and abstract works by Tennessee/Louisiana artist David LeDoux and Kentucky artist Marjorie Guyon. Self-taught Southern artists represented in the sale include Purvis Young, Bernice Sims, Bessie Harvey, Jimmy Sudduth, Mose Tolliver, B.F. Perkins and Eddy Mumma.

A rare Gustave Baumann 1924 woodcut titled “Spring, New Mexico,” leads an offering of Western art.

Spotlighted in this auction is the collection of American furniture from the estate of Tina McWhorter and her late husband, John, of Memphis. It is centered by a Queen Anne highboy exhibiting the scale and proportion often associated with Newport, R.I., pieces. Also included is a Chippendale bonnet top chest-on-chest attributed to Massachusetts; a Federal bookcase signed by Massachusetts cabinetmaker William Dodge; a possible William Savery school Philadelphia trifid foot armchair and a Queen Anne side chair attributed to Rhode Island.

There is also a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence. Produced in 1818 by Benjamin Owen Tyler, it is considered the first copy of the Declaration ever printed for commercial purposes.

More than 200 lots of silver and jewelry provide a significant sparkle on the gallery floor. Featured is a large collection of American late Nineteenth Century serving flatware from the estate of a Nashville doctor, including rare pieces by Tiffany, Shiebler, Shreve, Gorham, Whiting, Unger and more, plus flatware sets by Georg Jensen, Tiffany, Christofle and Dominick & Haff and other major makers.

This auction showcases one of the largest categories of ceramics ever offered at Case, thanks to a collection of Chinese export and English porcelain from the Tina McWhorter estate and collection of Continental porcelain from the estate of longtime Nashville dealer/collector Pia Stratton. Highlights include two large Meissen elephant and rider figurines plus several smaller Meissen pieces, a pair of Richard Klemm Dresden floral encrusted urns and a pair of KPM Neoclassical urns decorated with battle scenes, along with multiple services of English Imari pattern dinnerware.

An unusual Tiffany lamp with blown out glass base and original Favrile iridescent shade is among the standout pieces of glass in the auction. There are also lamps by Heintz and Pairpoint, plus a collection of miniature Galle vases, Moser goblets, and vases by Steuben, Tiffany and Schneider.

The live auction begins Saturday, January 28, at 9 am and Sunday, January 29, at 1 pm. Persons wishing to preview the auction may do so by making prior reservations on the company’s website through Friday, January 27.

Case’s gallery is at 4310 Papermill Drive. For information, 865-558-3033, 615-812-6096 (Nashville office) or www.caseantiques.com.

Carroll Cloar, “The Explorer”
19th C. Portrait by Susannah Paine
Joonsung Bae, “Costume of Painter C. Lacroix”
Estate Jewelry incl. Art Deco
Philip & Kelvin Laverne, 1 of 2 Coffee Tables
Colt Collection incl. Gustave Young Factory Engraved Model 1849
Edwin D. White, 1860
Rembrandt, State II of III
Gustave Baumann, “Spring, NM”, 1924
Beauford Delaney
Fujinuma Noboru
Josef Wopfner
Yoshio Sekine
William Tyree Ranney
Chinese Export Collection
William Edmondson Exhibited Sculpture
Galle Glass Collection
R. Garrard II Vermeil Inkwell
Estate Collection of Rare Flatware: Tiffany, Shreve, Shiebler, more
Benjamin Owen Tyler 1818 copy of the Declaration of Independence
Korean Censer
Pietra Dura Cabinet, attributed to Mathieu Befort
Early Panoramic Chinese Scroll
Phila. Armchair, poss. Wm. Savery ex-Keno,
18th C. Mirror, ex-Sack, McWhorter
Estate Collection of European Porcelain incl. R. Klemm Urns