By Rita Easton
NEWPORT, R.I. – Gustave J. S. White Co. held an April 18 auction featuring antique furniture, Oriental rugs, paintings, and porcelain, following two preview sessions. The partial contents of the estate of John P. Sturges of Providence, and the partial furnishings of the home of Mr and Mrs Philip S. P. Randolph of Rosemont, Pa. were among the lots offered. Three hundred-twelve lots crossed the block, with competition among the 278 bidders present.
Reaching the highest bid of the sale, a vertical canvas by Jean Francois Millet, having dimensions of 26 by 18 inches, “The Rape of the Sabines,” brought $28,750. The buyer of the oil on canvas under glass was dealer James McGrath of Scituate, Mass.
A Louis XV/XVI marquetry commode with a mottled marble top brought $14,950 for the transitional piece, which went to a New York dealer; a pietra dura circular table with floral, song bird, and leaf inlay, 21 inches in diameter, was purchased by a New York dealer at $5,750; and a half hull of a deep water sailing vessel, 60 inches long, mounted on a board, made $5,290, going to a Fall River, Mass., private collector.
A sterling silver teapot, made by London silversmith J. E. Watlin, reached $1,100; an oil painting of the clipper ship Ellen A. Read, by T. G. Purvis-Cardiff, measuring 26 by 38 inches, went out at $4,600; a French tortoise shell and boulle mantel clock, signed, 26 inches high, decorated at the crest with a figure of the god of wind Aeolus, sold at $3,100; and an Eighteenth Century Dutch marquetry lavabo, having some veneer damage, went out at a low $1,350 to a buyer willing to do repairs.
A tiger maple highboy, with the five-drawer upper portion well married to the four-drawer lower section, standing on well-preserved legs, garnered $3,700; five whalebone busks brought $975; a 4 by 6-foot Caucasian five-medallion rug made $1,475; and two bronze animal sculptures by Alfredo Barye were purchased, bringing $900 for a 9-inch long figure of a lion, and $1,425 for a 13 ½-inch long figure of an elephant.
Prices quoted include buyer’s premium.
