“[The result] was a winning combination of early Nineteenth Century Neoclassical subject matter, a beautifully executed carving that was in fine condition, and favorable provenance,” Corbin Horn justified the top-lot status conferred on this French carved marble bust of Elisa Bonaparte, which earned $34,650 from a private East Coast collector ($3/5,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring; Photos Courtesy Hindman
CHICAGO — “I’m happy with the sale overall,” noted Corbin Horn, vice president, senior specialist, European furniture and decorative arts commenting on Hindman’s 427-lot sale of European furniture and decorative arts on October 10. “We had a price bubble during Covid, it does feel as though things have plateaued a bit. Things are simply slowing down a bit with the real estate market. Dealers are only interested in buying the best of the best. With houses not changing hands as quickly, people are buying more selectively.” He noted that while the sell-through rate was not quite 80 percent, the sale nonetheless tallied nearly $615,000 and there were several exemplary works that captivated bidders around the world, with correspondingly commendable results.
The Bonaparte family is a perennial favorite for collectors, with Napoleon being the one most frequently sought-after. A French carved marble bust of his sister Elisa (1777-1820) that came from the Batavia, Ill., estate of Ward Gerard Gosselin, took top lot honors when it brought $34,650, selling to a private collector on the East Coast, underbid by several online and phone bidders from the United States as well as the United Kingdom, France and Canada.
Name recognition, rarity and quality were also behind the strong result of a Bösendorfer grand piano, that Horn said drew several people to people to see and play during the preview. Conservatively estimated at $4/6,000, it sold to a buyer on the East Coast for $31,500, the second highest price of the day.
Playing to the second highest note in the sale at $31,500 was this Bösendorfer grand piano from a Chicago estate that Corbin Horn said was in really good condition ($4/6,000).
Rarity and quality were present in spades for a Chinese export brown and gold lacquer four-post canopy bed that had provenance to Walter P. Chrysler and decorators Gregory Smith and Mario Buatta. There had also been speculation — by Sotheby Parke Bernet when it sold the Chrysler collection in 1960, that the bed may have been at or made for Brighton Pavilion, the seaside palace built in three stages, beginning in 1787 as a retreat for George, Prince of Wales, who would become King George IV in 1820. A private collector in Florida outlasted other competitors to win it for $30,240.
Several pieces of Russian porcelain plates from the Kremlin service — which rarely come to auction — came to Hindman from the same seller of the Bösendorfer piano. Horn divided the group into two lots: one of five dessert plates that sold to a buyer in Florida for $8,820, while a group of 14 pieces that included serving plate, dinner and salad plates, sold to a buyer in New York City for $20,810. Both lots were underbid by a tenacious private collector who was bidding from Hindman’s salesroom.
Chicago winters being what they are, is it any surprise that winter landscapes do well at Hindman? An oil on canvas composition titled “Wallachian Horseman” by Adolf Schreyer (German, 1828-1899) that had received the stamp of approval by the Schreyer experts in Germany more than doubled its high estimate and found a new home with an East Coast buyer for $15,120.
“It was a very nice example,” Corbin Horn said of Adolf Schreyer’s “Wallachian Horseman,” oil on canvas, signed lower left, 26 by 36½ inches, that found a new East Coast home for $15,120 ($5/7,000).
A buyer in the UK outbid competition on two Eighteenth Century still life paintings cataloged as Circle of Jan Van Os that had provenance to three named English private collections and another in Ohio, as well as New York City’s Newhouse Galleries. One depicted roses in a glass vase, the other depicted fruit in a wicker basket with birds; both were done in oil on panel and had “everything you’d want in a Dutch Golden Age still life,” according to Horn.
Hindman’s next European furniture and decorative arts sale is scheduled for February 8.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 312-280-1212 or www.hindmanauctions.com.
