As with most folks, George Henry Durrie wound up in a wholly different place than where he started in his career as an artist. Born in Connecticut in 1820, Durrie never lived the life of a traveling artist with expeditions near and far, instead choosing a more homely life, staying close to New Haven. When he was 19, Durrie sought out the training of a local portraitist named Nathaniel Jocelyn, who he studied with for two years as he painted portraits on commission throughout small Connecticut towns. This is where he honed his brush. But that changed, abruptly, when his “snow pictures,” as the newspaper advertisements labeled them, became more popular. Durrie had an acclaimed knack for landscapes, and in particular, winterscapes. As his countryside paintings grew in popularity, they attracted the attention of Currier & Ives, who brought Durrie’s career to an everlasting crescendo, publishing ten of Durrie’s landscapes for greater release to the general American public. A Durrie oil painting approaches the block at Sarasota Estate Auction, heading up lots from around the United States in this week’s picks.
SARASOTA
Sale Date: January 20–21, 2018
Lot 783
George Durrie (American, 1820–1863)
Oil on canvas laid on board painting of a winter vista with figures. Signed and dated lower left, 17 by 29 inches sight.
Estimate: $20/25,000
CHRISTIE’S
Sale Date: January 19, 2018
Lot 185
Chippendale Carved Mahogany Easy Chair
Philadelphia, 1760, 44¾ inches high
Estimate: $150/250,000
SOTHEBY’S
Sale Date: January 18–21, 2018
Lot 1307
Carved And Painted Pine Figure Of A Baseball Player, Workshop Of Samuel Anderson Robb
New York, circa 1890, a rare, diminutive figure of a baseball player with his left foot advanced in batting stance, wearing a peaked cap, handlebar mustache, blue and white jersey and trousers over blue and white shoes, the figure grasps a turned wood bat; mounted on a tapered pedestal base, 49 inches high.
Estimate: $300/500,000
DuMOUCHELLES
Sale Date: January 19–21, 2018
Lot 11001
Clarke’s Glass Fairy Lamp Chandelier
Late Nineteenth Century, possibly model 128. The five cut glass arms, each with a fairy dome and bobeches heavily cut in a diamond pattern, issuing from a diamond-cut bulbous receiver above a straight standard terminating in a prism-hung canopy. All cups with Clarke’s trademark to interior, 30 inches high.
Estimate: $3/5,000
DOYLE
Sale Date: January 17, 2018
Lot 242
George III Inlaid Mahogany China Cabinet
Circa 1765, in the manner of Thomas Chippendale. In two parts, the upper section of breakfront form, with central projecting section surmounted by a swan’s-neck cresting centered by cartouche on a faceted platform above a dentilated cornice and a glazed door, the crossbanded serpentine lower section with a conforming case fitted with a baize-lined brushing slide and four graduated cockbeaded drawers, raised on scrolled bracket feet; inlaid with herringbone stringing throughout.
Estimate: $100/200,000
ELDRED’S
Sale Date: January 19–20, 2018
Lot 1018
Carved Wood Eagle
American, Nineteenth Century, on a contemporary green-painted pedestal. Eagle with open bill, spread wings and dropped tail. Old gold-painted finish. 13¾ inches high on pedestal.
Estimate: $800–$1,200
MYERS
Sale Date: January 21, 2018
Lot 198
German Seventeenth Century Gilt Coin Silver Tankard
With a deep repousse body decorated with peonies and tulips. The interior of the lid has an engraved coat of arms and the letters BR and VR and the date of 1667. Weighs 22.7 troy ounces, 8½ inches high.
Estimate: $2/3,000
COTTONE
Sale Date: January 20, 2018
Lot 18
Civil War Ketchum Hand Grenade
With original wood.
Estimate: $700–$1,000
RAGO
Sale Date: January 19–21, 2018
Lot 1036
Phil Powell (1919–2008)
Important entryway door, New Hope, Penn., early 1960s, chip-carved walnut, patinated and enameled iron, giltwood frame. Originally designed for the Phil Powell gallery in New Hope, 86½ inches high.
Estimate: $25/35,000
