The 649-lot sale, which was strong in midcentury modern lighting and furniture, was led by a crystalline Lalique “Champs-Elysse” chandelier that surpassed its $8,000 high presale estimate to sell for $14,080. The lighting had three tiers and 18 maple satin crystal leaves. It’s a model that retails for $51,000.
Review By W.A. Demers; Photos Courtesy Nadeau’s Auction Gallery
WINDSOR, CONN. — Nadeau Auction Gallery’s annual spring outdoor, midcentury and contemporary arts and furnishings sale wrapped up on June 10, led by a crystalline Lalique “Champs-Elysse” chandelier that surpassed its $8,000 high estimate to sell for $14,080. The lighting had three tiers and 18 maple satin crystal leaves. It’s a model that retails for $51,000, with a height of approximately 24½ inches and diameter of approximately 33 inches. A private online buyer prevailed.
The 649-lot sale was strong in Midcentury Modern lighting and furniture. It totaled $487,000 with a 90 percent sell-through rate. Combined bidder participation in the gallery, phone and left bids numbered 334, while online numbers reached 8,000.
Also dwarfing its estimate as well as anyone’s sense of classic grand lighting fixtures was a Baltic gilt metal cut glass and ruby glass eight-light chandelier. From the first half of the Twentieth Century, the fixture bristled with myriad prisms and shaded fixtures. At a height of 45½ inches, it outshone its $1,5/2,500 estimate and captured $9,840.
You can’t have just one. This pair of Eames Potato Chip chairs with an $800-$1,200 estimate surpassed expectations to take $7,680.
Midcentury Modern furniture found favor, with a pair of Eames Potato Chip chairs realizing $7,680, six times their high estimate. This popular form, originally more prosaically designated DCM (for “Dining Chair Metal,”) was Charles and Ray Eames’ first serially produced chair. Its three-dimensionally curved plywood seat and backrest do resemble potato chips. More importantly, however, like the salty snack, they became nearly ubiquitous, serially produced and sold in extraordinary numbers to schools, universities, offices and public institutions. A dealer bidding online won the pair.
Fetching the same amount was a fine art highlight, an oil on canvas titled “End of Night” by Arpana Cau (b 1954) that was bright with ochres and oranges with a partial dark female figure at its center. Titled and signed on the back of the canvas, the work was dated 1997. Born to a Sikh family, Caur did her post-graduation in literature from Delhi University and then went on to study painting at Central St Martins College of Art, London. Working with diverse mediums, she responded to political events in her works, including the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the Sikh massacre and violence against women. She lives and works in Delhi and has works in collections of several institutions worldwide.
A fresco on linen by Marcia Myers (American, 1949-2008) brought $6,400. It was titled “Scavi CLXX” and signed “mm 2000” on verso. Emblematic of her large-scale Color Field abstractions, this painting was in red, white and blue measuring 65 by 50 inches.
The iconic Charles & Ray Eames 670 lounge chair and rosewood ottoman was bid to $5,120.
Four table lamps were grouped into one lot and it included a pair of midcentury table lamps, orange and black in color, total height 34 inches, a Marshall Studios Pottery table lamp, signed at base, total height 30 inches, and a midcentury wood table lamp, total height 38 inches. The combined estimate on the lot was $200/400, but the lighting did much better, taking $5,760.
Performing similarly well was a pair of green crackle glaze teacups, beating the lot’s $200/400 estimate to leave the gallery at $5,440. The cups rested upon on wooden stands in a fitted box.
Finally, bidders were unable to resist the iconic Charles and Ray Eames 670 lounge chair and rosewood ottoman, chasing it to a final price of $5,120 against the $2/4,000 estimate.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. Nadeau’s next sale is set for July 22. For information, 860-246-2444 or www.nadeausauction.com.
