This Maurice Utrillo oil painting “Église de Saint-Bernard (AIN)” made $60,000 ($60/120,000).
Review by Andrea Valluzzo
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — Vive la France! Property from a consignor with a home on Park Avenue in New York City, and who had an affinity for French paintings, resulted in World Auction Gallery’s Exceptional Very Fine Art & Antiques Auction on October 14 being led by three French paintings accounting for more than $170,000 in sales and taking the auction’s top three spots.
“We had one consigner who had a large collection of the French paintings, so that’s why we put them all in one auction together. We knew that they would bring a lot of interest, especially since there were so many of them,” said World Auction Gallery’s office manager Jenna Marullo. Asked if the firm was pleased with the results, she said, “Absolutely, yes. We definitely did very well with the paintings.”
The three paintings crossed the block one right after another in the sale’s first hour, starting off with an André Lhote (1885-1962) oil painting titled “Gordes,” depicting the medieval village perched atop a mountain in France’s picturesque Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur area. It sold to a French buyer for $50,700. Next up was an oil on canvas by Maximilien Luce (1858-1941). His “Village Au Bord De La Riviere” brought $60,950 and became the top lot of the grouping as well as the auction overall. Coming in at a close second was Maurice Utrillo’s (1883-1955) oil painting from 1933 titled “Église de Saint-Bernard (AIN),” which attained $60,000. All three paintings went to French buyers and were originally acquired at Sotheby’s or Christie’s New York City auctions in May 2008.
The top lot of the auction was this Maximilien Luce oil painting “Village Au Bord De La Riviere,” which went out at $60,950 ($40/80,000).
“The paintings were very successful, but there was also a lot of interest in the art glass we had, especially the Lalique,” Marullo added. “In general, we always find something that a lot of people are interested in.”
The art glass category was led at $4,550 by a pair of Lalique France frosted glass swans on the original mirrored plateau, designed in 1943. The larger swan measured 14 inches long and the smaller was 12 inches.
Sterling silver continues to perform well at auctions. In some cases, the success is due to its value in metal, but more often than not, the artistic value determines the final price. The latter was the case with an important Russian 84 silver tazza in the Egyptian Revival style. Marked “Sazikov” in Cyrillic, it had elaborate decoration of sphinx, lotus flowers, cicadas and winged lions. Selling within estimate at $13,000, the tazza stood 20½ inches tall and even had some parts gilt-decorated. “It was of exceptional quality, very large and was different in terms of the decoration. That’s part of why it was such a highly valued item,” Marullo said.
Also shining bright in the auction were a historical Reed & Barton 182-piece sterling flatware service in the Hepplewhite pattern that earned $10,400 and a repoussé sterling silver covered tureen and underplate from Bigelow, Kennard & Company, dated 1883, that sold for $7,200.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. World Auction Gallery’s next sale will be November 4, but its next featured auction will be December 16. For information, www.worldauctiongallery.com or 516-307-8180.
