Sloans & Kenyon Auctioneers and Appraisers’ February 3-5 auction grossed $1.34 million dollars and marked the debut of the firm’s online auction research tool which provides bidders with multiple-view images of auction lots. Lots sold online in the February Connoisseurs’ Auction increased by more than seven percent. Sloans & Kenyon’s director of operations, Matthew Stuart, observed that “multiple-view lot images in our online catalog empower collectors; having this additional information at their fingertips allows Sloans & Kenyon bidders to judge lots thoroughly.”
The February auction included property from the estates of Suzette Derzavis, Florence Fan and Janet B. Ross as well as property sold to benefit the United States Holocaust Museum and the Victorian Society in America in Washington, D.C.; Landon School, Bethesda, Md.; and the United Negro College Fund.
In the Asian specialty session held on February 3, 373 of the508 lots offered grossed $355,663. Buyers from the United States,Canada, Europe and Asia totaled 158, and 152 lots were sold to 67buyers who participated in the Friday session through onlinebidding, which accounted for $120,880 of the first day’s hammerprice.
“Collectors’ interest in Chinese porcelain, jade, scholars’ objects and Buddhist art is extremely strong and we obtained marvelous results,” said Asian department director Alexandra Grais.
Some of the top lots in this diverse sale included an American Chippendale carved mahogany side chair, Eighteenth Century, purported to be one from a set loaned to a Boston family and used by George Washington when he conducted the siege of Boston that sold for $51,920. All prices given include the buyer’s premium charged.
A Juan Pablo Salinas (Spanish, 1871-1946), oil on canvas, “The Invited Guests,” signed upper right, sold for $20,060, and a French oil on panel also sold within estimate. Edouard Henri Leon Cortes (French, 1882-1969), “Le sud de la France,” brought $17,700. Philip Alexius de Laszlo (Hungarian British, 1869-1937), “Portrait of Prince Boris of Bulgaria (1894-1948) with Roses,” doubled its high estimate, selling for $12,390.
Sculpture was sought after with a Chryselephantine sculptureof “Innocence,” circa 1920, selling for $11,800 and a circa Secondor Third Century Ganharan gray schist figure of Bodhisattva goingfor the same figure.
A circa 1840, American School painting, “Two Children with Dog and Hoop,” brought $10,030. Other American artists’ paintings that sold well included Frank Stella’s “Polar Co-Ordinates III” going for $8,850; John Leone’s “African American Man Leading the Bay” and Mark Lindquist’s “Will’s Song,” walnut, 1985-86, both sold for $7,670.
Another top lot was a Turkish silk rug with dragon and phoenix motifs that had an estimate of $2/3,000 but went out for $9,440.
Sloans & Kenyon’s next estate catalog auction will be April 7-9, with an exhibition, April 1-6 at Sloans & Kenyon’s gallery at 7034 Wisconsin Avenue. For information, www.sloansandkenyon.com or 301-634-2330.
