Estimated just $300/500, Jane Poupelet’s (French, 1874-1932) bronze “Rabbit Crouching,” 3 by 4¼ inches, hopped to it, selling for $10,540 on the first day.
Review by W.A. Demers, Photos Courtesy DuMouchelles
DETROIT, MICH. – On July 21-22, DuMouchelles hosted a two-day sale featuring fine and decorative art, antiques, furniture, estate jewelry, ceramics, art glass and crystal and more. It was a veritable buffet for bidders, offering something for just about any collecting interest – everything from an important Benjamin Franklin signed document to whimsical sculpture.
For example, estimated just $300/500, Jane Poupelet’s (French, 1874-1932) bronze “Rabbit Crouching,” 3 by 4¼ inches, hopped to it, selling for $10,540 on the first day. Born in the Dordogne countryside, a setting that inspired her and had a great influence on her artistic work, Poupelet used to play outside with clay and make sculptures of the people and animals around her, choosing to surround herself with rural animals, such as rabbits, chickens and donkeys, among others.
Leading the first day’s results were two distinctly different lots, each selling for $14,880. One was a Pennsylvania land grant dated 1787 and signed by Benjamin Franklin (American, 1706-1790). The 15¾-by-18-inch document was signed by Franklin – “B. Franklin” – as president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania (served 1777-1790). Attested by James Timble for John Armstrong, it was a handwritten document on vellum bearing a state of Pennsylvania star-form seal upper left and framed between two pieces of glass.
The leading lot on the sale’s second day was a set of eight lithographs in colors by Joan Mirò (Spanish, 1893-1983) featuring the artist’s trademark biomorphic and abstract images, which was bid to $18,600.
Bringing the same amount was a pair of bronze garden foo lions on plinths. Evidence that the duo had spent considerable time outdoors was the weathered green patina on the male and female figures. Standing 36 inches high and 30 inches long, the pair, each finely cast, had no discernable markings. They were property of the Lucia Zurkowski Trust, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Day two kicked off with a work in the manner of Paul Klee – a watercolor and ink on paper – but that was not the top lot of the session. That honor went to a set of eight lithographs in colors by Joan Mirò (Spanish, 1893-1983), featuring the artist’s trademark biomorphic and abstract images. Bid to $18,600, the eight plates, each 17¾ by 14¼ inches and signed in pencil and annotated H.C., were published by Maeght Editeur, Paris, printed by Atelier Mourlot, Paris, on Arches wove paper.
There were some choice examples of art pottery and art glass in the sale. One of the best was a Pewabic pottery bottle vase with a long neck, 9 inches high, circa 1910, property from the collection of a major metro Detroit collector, that doubled its high estimate to finish at $7,440. It featured a crackled iridescent glaze and bore an impressed medallion “Pewabic Detroit” mark, plus a medallion paper label in sepia letters.
Jewelry hounds chased a 5.19-carat natural emerald, diamond and 14K white gold ring to $6,200. The natural beryl emerald ring was accented with 48 round brilliant cut natural diamonds (H-I color, SI1-SI2 clarity) and was presented on a 14K white gold setting. Ring size was 6.75, and the lot was accompanied with a Premier Gem Laboratory certificate from June 9, 2022, appraising the ring at $10,210 retail replacement value.
This 5.19-carat natural emerald, diamond and 14K white gold ring rose to $6,200, which was a good buy as a recent Premier Gem Laboratory certificate accompanying the lot appraised the ring at $10,210 retail replacement value.
Other highlights included the above-mentioned watercolor and ink on paper done in the manner of Paul Klee (German, 1879-1940). The circa 1930s abstract portrayed fanciful microscopic beasties, titled “Mikroskopishe Leben” (life under the microscope) and bore an artist’s signature, “Klee” to the upper right. It was bid to $6,083. Fetching the same price was a work from Rafael Coronel (Mexican, 1932-2019), a dark, oil on canvas portrait titled “Retrato #4” and measuring 18 by 24 inches.
A Lynn Chase “Winter Game Birds” porcelain dinner service, circa 1988, comprising 93 pieces, went out at $4,650, a premium above its $800 high estimate. And a wrought iron fireplace screen with stained and leaded glass from the Nineteenth Century, 76 by 56 inches, left the gallery at $3,720, while a Jens Quistgaard for Peter Lovig Nielsen Danish rosewood flip-top desk, circa 1960s, brought $2,480.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. For additional information, www.dumoart.com or 313-963-6255.
