“Three Scoops,” a work on paper by American Pop art icon Andy Warhol was a top highlight offered on the second day of the auction series. Selling for $31,250, the mixed media piece shows an ice cream cone with scoops of red, pink and white ice cream atop a cone that is decorated with playful linework reminiscent of Art Nouveau design.
Review by W.A. Demers, Photos Courtesy Clars Auction Gallery
OAKLAND, CALIF. — A work on paper by American Pop art icon Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was a top highlight at Clars Auction Gallery’s March 17-18 auction. Offered on the second day of the auction series and selling for $31,250, the mixed media piece shows an ice cream cone with scoops of red, pink and white ice cream atop a cone that is decorated with playful linework reminiscent of Art Nouveau design. This work, which went to a private buyer bidding by phone from the San Francisco Bay Area, is one in a series of ice cream-themed designs drawn by Warhol during the 1950s and was likely inspired by the collaborative coloring parties that the artist would host at Serendipity 3, the New York dessert café at which he was a lifelong patron. Another top highlight was the largest single-owner precious metals collection to be offered in the gallery’s history, including uncirculated gold coins, silver bars, silver coins and presentation coins, some in unopened containers.
Another Warhol work, “Space Fruits (Peaches),” a color lithograph, 30 by 40 inches, commanded $17,500, and an oil on canvas by Constantine Maleas (Greek, 1879-1928), titled “Analatos Attica (Project #2),” 1921, 15 by 31 inches, rounded out the fine art notables, realizing $8,750.
Total for the sale was $1.6 million and it posted a 74 percent sell-through rate, offering its catalog to more than 700 registered bidders.
Jewelry was another focus of the March 17 session with the firm’s jewelry and timepiece department offering a selection of diamond, colored gemstone and gold jewelry. Featured were a variety of wardrobe staples. A selection of diamond jewelry in time for bridal season included a diamond and 14K white gold bracelet bringing $8,890 and a diamond and 14K white gold riviere necklace going out at $6,033. In timepieces, an 18K gold wristwatch, Baumatic, Baum & Mercier, sold for $2,876. Fashionistas chased an Hermes Birkin bag that commanded $16,250.
The largest single-owner precious metals collection to be offered in the gallery’s history comprised 51 lots and realized a combined $566,250.
The largest single-owner precious metals collection to be offered in the gallery’s history, including uncirculated gold coins, silver bars, silver coins and presentation coins, some in unopened containers, comprised 51 lots on March 17. The coins realized a combined $566,250.
On March 18, Asian art came to the fore, with a pair of famille rose inset wall hangings finding a buyer for $8,450. Fetching $3,810 was a pair of famille rose porcelain plaques, while a Chinese embroidered purple ground “Dragon” robe earned $7,500.
The March 17 and 18 sessions were preceded by the firm’s spring design auction on March 16. There were numerous highlights across genres and countries, with the highest price, $8,750, going to a Tiffany and Co Audubon flatware set of 61. Among numerous furniture highlights in the auction was a Michel Buffet floor lamp that sold for $7,500, and bringing the same amount was a Philip and Kelvin Laverne Fantasia coffee table.
A René Lalique Lezards et Bluets vase left the gallery at $8,125.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. Dates of the next sales are as follows: Spring Fine Jewelry and Timepieces, April 14, 10 am; Fine Art, Furniture and Decorative Arts, April 14, 1:30 pm; Asian Art, Fine Art, Furniture and Decorative Arts, April 15, 9:30 am. For information, 510-428-0100 or www.clars.com.
