“It was a fabulous thing,” noted Colin Stair about the sale’s top lot, this Chinese export black lacquer and parcel-gilt six-panel screen that a European buyer won for $32,000 ($2,5/5,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring; Photos Courtesy Stair Galleries
HUDSON, N.Y. — Provenance in some families lends added value to their collections. This is no different the world around, but in the United States, where we lack royal dynasties, we have to make do with the families of industrial tycoons and celebrities. On January 23-25, Stair Galleries offered one such collection — that of Ann and Gordon Getty — in a 736-lot sale titled “A Lifetime of Connoisseurship, Curiosity and Collection. All lots sold, to a primarily American audience, bidders from England, France, Italy, Holland and China also came to the table to buy. When Antiques and The Arts Weekly reached out, Colin Stair could not have been more enthusiastic as he reflected back on the auction.
“What a whirlwind of a sale it was for us! It was just so exciting to see every single lot sell and exceed our expectations. It’s a true testament to Mrs Getty, her perseverance in collecting and understanding of the objects she owned. It also speaks volumes of having a relationship with a client long term: Mrs Getty was a client of ours here for 22 years, and mine before that, as well as my father’s and my grandfather’s. I and the Getty family are absolutely thrilled with the results.”
The Gettys’ collection was widely considered one of the most significant private collections of the United States, focusing on museum-worthy works of art, English and European furniture and decorative arts, much of which was sold in a series of recent sales at Christie’s. Prior to his sale, Stair lauded Ann Getty’s taste and eye, acknowledging her as “one of America’s greatest self-taught decorators,” who was known for her “sophisticated layering of antiques and textiles [and] her reverence for architectural integrity.”
This pair of carved alabaster vases on matching pedestals was attributed to Italian carver Lorenzo Bartolini and massive at 7 feet 7½ inches overall. A buyer in the United States acquired them for $26,880 ($10/20,000).
The sale’s top price of $32,000 was reached by an impressive Chinese export black lacquer and parcel-gilt six-panel screen with provenance to the Viscount Leverhulme that the Gettys had acquired from Christie’s in 1986. The single-sided screen had scarlet japanning on the reverse and depicted a vibrant landscape with buildings, figures and animals in gilding on a black ground. It was framed in scarlet with pierced gilt tracery along the top. A European buyer had the winning bid.
It’s hard to beat a pair of carved alabaster vases on pedestals for sheer visual impact, particularly when they are massive. Earning a close second-place in the auction at $26,880 was one such pair attributed to Lorenzo Bartolini (Italian, 1777-1850), who studied in Paris and eventually became the director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara. The vases and matching pedestals, standing more than 7½ feet tall overall, depicted “The Death of Priam” and “The Death of Polyxena.” They had been illustrated in Alvar Gonzàles-Palacios’ Il Tempio del Gusto, (Milan, 1986) and related to a single alabaster vase at Syon House in Middlesex, England. Purchased from Carlton Hobbs in London in 1993, the vases are staying in the United States.
An American buyer paid $15,360 for this pair of Italian Scagliola columns with associated Corinthian capitals and later black square plinth bases ($1/2,000).
In a similar vein, if not quite so impressive, was a pair of nearly 8-foot-tall Italian scagliola columns with Corinthian capitals that were acquired in 2001 from San Francisco auction house Butterfield & Butterfield. Described as having “impressive scale,” the pair also had some condition issues but bidders were not deterred, taking the pair from a $1/2,000 estimate to $15,360.
A stunning Bessarabian carpet that was just a little shy of 10 by 10 feet rolled out a third-place finish at $25,600, more than quadrupling its high estimate. It sold to a buyer in the United States, as did another carpet, an Irish Donegal example, that despite being of smaller size — approximately 9 by 6 feet — also realized $25,600. Both were considered to be in good overall condition with some areas of wear. Rounding out the carpet highlights was a Turkish Oushak carpet that measured nearly 18 by 14 feet and sold to a buyer in Ireland for $15,360.
Fine art was a comparatively small category within the sale, but what the Gettys had was good. Ernest Lawson’s (Canadian American, 1873-1939) “Moret-sur-Loing,” which had last been on the market in 1990 when the Gettys acquired it from Sotheby’s New York, brought the highest bid of the fine art section. It sold to a buyer in the United States for $23,040.
This pair of painted faux coral wall sconces, made from metal and shell by Bolette Natanson will be staying in the United States, with a buyer who won them for $17,920 ($1/1,500).
It would be wrong to assume that the Gettys’ sense of style and taste did not allow room for whimsy. Case in point: a pair of painted metal and shell wall sconces by Bolette Natanson (French, d 1936) that looked like pieces of coral that Phillips auctioned in 2004. Estimated at $1/1,500, the pair found a new home with an American buyer for $17,920.
A Black Forest painted wood chandelier with antlers and the body of a mermaid holding a single wrought iron candle branch certainly checked the “quirky” box and rose to $16,640, more than 18 times its high estimate. Five pieces of colorful vegetable-form furniture made by contemporary craftsman Craig Nutt (American, b 1950) that could easily be described as “fanciful” had been acquired directly from the craftsman and kicked off the third and final day of the sale.
Traditional furniture was a clear strength of the collection and saw strong results during the sale. Assuming the mantle of best-in-class at $17,920 was a George IV gilt metal and scagliola top center table by an unattributed craftsman who modeled its design after steel fenders. While its maker is unknown, more is presumed about its history: it may have belonged to Whig MP Alexander Murray (British, d 1845) prior to being sold at auction in 1846 and again in the 1920s before the Gettys acquired it from Christie’s in 2003.
Though this George IV gilt metal and scagliola top center table had some condition issues, bidders were not deterred and it went to a new home in the United States on a $17,920 bid ($3/5,000).
It might be hard to improve on the Getty provenance unless one considers that of Admiral Nelson. A William IV brass inlaid rosewood, parcel-gilt and velvet tufted upholstered day bed, along with a late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century copy, had reportedly been at the Nelson family home, Trafalgar Park, before selling in 1966. The Gettys acquired the two day beds at Christie’s in 2003. When Stair sold them, they brought $15,360 from an American buyer.
Stair Galleries will offer a second sale of works from the Getty Collection on February 29, in “A Confluence of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Design.”
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For further information, 518-751-1000 or www.stairgalleries.com.
