English maritime artist Robert Salmon’s views in Greenock, Scotland, were top lots in the sale. “The Custom House Quay, Greenock, Scotland,” 1820, was bid to $47,382. The oil on canvas was signed with initials “RS” and dated lower right and went to a US collector.
Review by W.A. Demers
HUDSON, N.Y. — There were two significant paintings by English maritime artist Robert Salmon (1775-1845) of views in Greenock, Scotland, highlighting the fine arts category in Stair Galleries’ April 25 Fine sale, and they rose to achieve top lot status in the firm’s nearly $1.2 million sale of 308 lots. “The Custom House Quay, Greenock, Scotland,” completed in 1820, was bid to $47,382. The oil on canvas was signed with initials “RS” and dated lower right. A ship’s portrait, “The Pomona of Greenock Riding at Anchor,” executed in 1818 in oil on canvas, elicited a successful bid of $35,840.
Stair’s director of fine arts Lisa Thomas said, “I’m not surprised at all that they did well. They’re both really interesting, beautiful paintings. It’s an area of the market that’s a little undervalued right now. The buyers of this sort of material have sort of aged out of acquiring, it’s a slightly older buyer base. Younger collectors tend to veer more towards the modern.” Thomas said Salmon, though English, painted a lot in Scotland. “He painted multiple scenes at Greenock Harbor, the setting of these two paintings. The Customs House painting that we sold was from 1820, which was just two years after the Customs House was completed.” The top selling Salmon went to a private US collector and the other went to a US dealer.
Attributed to Samuel Scott (1702-1777), “Warships at Sea,” an unsigned lined oil on canvas drew $14,080, beating its $7,000 high estimate. Property from the collection of Mr and Mrs William K. Laughlin, New York City and Southampton, N.Y., it had descended in the family.
A ship’s portrait, “The Pomona of Greenock Riding at Anchor,” 1818, oil on canvas, 23 by 37 inches, by Robert Salmon elicited a successful bid by the US trade of $35,840.
As a whole, the Fine sale offered British, European and American fine and decorative arts, bridging centuries of styles and aesthetics across many collecting categories. The total realized for the sale was $1,182,33 with 92 percent sold. There were 1,355 registered bidders.
Among the top furniture highlights was a late Louis XV ormolu-mounted amaranth, bois satiné, tulipwood parquetry breakfront commode, surpassing its $10/15,000 estimate to sell for $30,080. Attributed to Jean-Francois Oeben and fitted with a grey Saint Anne marble top, the commode featured an elaborate cube parquetry pattern within a Greek key surround. The catalog notes state that at least 17 commodes of the model a la grecque were made by Oeben for Madame de Pompadour and distributed throughout her residences at Versailles, Menars and the Chateau d’Auviliers.
A Regency giltwood console doubled its high estimate to bring $24,320. It was fitted with a white veined marble top and a mirror plate panel, and measured 38¾ inches by 6 feet by 24 inches.
Fetching $21,760 was a pair of Russian neoclassical gilt-bronze-mounted mahogany chest of drawers that by repute was from Galerie Vauclair, Paris, measuring 34½ by 46¼ by 23¾ inches.
A Louis XV/XVI-style gilt-bronze-mounted ebony, black lacquer and parcel-gilt commode doubled its high estimate of $9,000 to reach $21,760. After the model by Bernard I Van Risenburgh, it was fitted with a molded marble top of breakfront outline and Japanese lacquer panels.
Also doubling its high estimate of $9,000 to reach $21,760 was a Louis XV/XVI-style gilt-bronze-mounted ebony, black lacquer and parcel-gilt commode, after a model by Bernard I Van Risenburgh. It was fitted with a molded marble top of breakfront outline and Japanese lacquer panels. Each door opened to one shelf. Last sold at Doyle in October 2009, it was 36½ inches by 5 feet 3½ inches by 23¾ inches.
There were two other notable furniture lots that each brought $14,080. One was a pair of Louis XVI ormolu-and brass-mounted mahogany console dessertes, signed “F. Schey” for Fidelis Schey, mâitre in 1777. The other was a set of 10 Russian neoclassical-style ebony inlaid mahogany dining chairs, expensively upholstered in a silk velvet fabric and with a French polish.
Two Oriental rugs were notable in the sale. A large Agra Indian carpet came from property formerly of the Ferreyra Palace, Cordoba, Argentina. Previously sold at Sotheby’s and Doyle, this time out it elicited $27,520. Also, a Russian Bessarabian flat-woven carpet sold for $11,520. Probably from the Imperial Tapestry Factory, St Petersburg, it had a lengthy catalog note discussing the several sources of inspiration for the inspiration of its design. One was a George II needlework table carpet of circa 1740, illustrated in English Needlework Carpets Sixteenth-Nineteenth Centuries by M.J. Mayorcas (Leigh-On-Sea: F. Lewis 1963) that is now at Anglesey Abbey (The National Trust), Lode, Cambridge. The Imperial Tapestry Factory was established in 1716 by Peter the Great (reigned 1682-1725) in St Petersburg, Russia.
A Tiffany Studios patinated bronze and Favrile glass nine-light geometric Moorish chandelier led the lighting category, surpassing its $8/12,000 estimate and swinging to $21,760.
Lighting in the sale was led by a Tiffany Studios patinated bronze and Favrile glass nine-light geometric Moorish chandelier, which improved upon its $8/12,000 estimate, swinging to $21,760.
Jewelry and timepiece highlights included a Tiffany & Co. 18K gold, lapis, diamond and enamel ring that surprised by soaring past its $1,5/2,500 estimate to finish at $15,360, and a Rolex 18K gold mesh wristwatch that found a new wrist for $14,080.
A pair of Louis XVI-style gilt-bronze-mounted grey porphyry vases, now mounted as lamps and possibly Russian or Swedish, led the decorative arts category at $12,800. Catalog notes relate that porphyry items were meant to be gifts by the king of Sweden, Marechal Bernadotte, who reigned as Karl XIV Johann from 1818 to 1844. His family owned porphyry mines.
Also notable was a large 18K gold box, probably French, that was estimated $4/6,000 but did much better, selling for $12,160.
And a pair of Louis XV-style ormolu chenets depicting a boar and stag slipped their $1,2/1,800 estimate to finish at $10,880.
This Rolex 18K gold mesh wristwatch realized $14,080.
After the sale, firm owner and principal auctioneer Colin Stair, reported “This sale brought together, for us, the very best in fine and decorative arts, including a small collection of jewelry. I believe this sale really exemplified what we are truly good at, English and continental furniture and from the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Centuries. It epitomizes our mission statement, “selling interesting things from interesting people”. We saw strengths in the furniture market and bids from around the world. Our online bidding platform, stairgalleries.com, continues to be the choice for our clients, and they can seamlessly transact with one organization for the entirety of their bidding process. We are quite bullish of the future of this market.”
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. For information, www.stairgalleries.com or 518-751-1000.
