Ram Kumar’s “Urban Abstract” achieved $137,500 from an online bidder, the highest price paid during all three days of the Winter Enchantment Auction ($100/500,000).
Review by Z.G. Burnett
THOMASTON, MAINE — Thomaston Place Galleries hosted its Winter Enchantment Auction from February 21 to 23, drawing in an unexpected number of in-person bidders for the event. “Usually, the [winter] weather keeps people bidding at home or online, but we had a full house all three days,” said an auction house representative. With almost 1,500 lots in nearly every genre, the rise in attendance and the auction’s overall results speak to the quality of the objects offered. Thomaston Place reported a 90 percent sell-through rate and an overall total of $1.5 million in sales.
Fine art fetched most of the highest prices, with “Urban Abstract” by Ram Kumar (Indian, 1924-2018), at $137,500, at the top of the list. Kumar led the first generation of post-colonial Modernists following Indian independence and partition in 1947, separating India from Pakistan and from British dominion. He studied economics at St Stephen’s College in New Delhi before pursuing painting in Paris between 1949 and 1952, with Andre Lhote and Fernand Leger as mentors. According to the Vadehra Art Gallery, New Dehli, “Kumar’s work predominantly comprises abstract renditions of landscapes with jagged topographic contours, supplemented with a sense of ambient despair.” Dated 1969, “Urban Abstract” showed less structure and more indeterminable feeling surrounding the location than many other paintings in his oeuvre.
An untitled abstract painting by Auguste Herbin (France, 1882-1960) followed in price and was a stark departure from Kumar’s neutral palette. Herbin co-founded the Abstraction-Création and Salon des Réalités Nouvelles schools, both promoting non-figurative abstract art. His work is known for the colorful geometric shapes that place the pieces more in cubism rather than abstract expressionism, as exhibited by this example. It was bid to $37,500.
This untitled abstract oil painting by Auguste Herbin was the second-highest bid lot of fine art at $37,500.
The top lot of the auction’s second day took sales in a slightly different direction with a Maine seascape by John Marin (French, 1870-1953) titled “Black Head, Monhegan.” Despite his identifiable subject in this instance, Marin was a modernist artist known for his abstract landscapes. The painting is almost figurative compared to his other work, exhibiting his method of using oils like watercolor paints. After training in Europe and even exhibiting his work at the Paris Salon, Marin’s most frequent subjects became Maine’s rugged terrain and New York City’s urban jungle. Painted in 1939, this scene sold for $26,400 to a floor bidder.
Early modern portraiture was also popular, especially after and from schools of well-known Eighteenth Century artists. The school of Anton Raphael Mengs (German/Italian, 1728-1779) produced a circa 1750 memorial portrait of a young lady that showed a label on verso from the Mayflower Hotel, Washington, DC, that sold for $22,500 against its $3/4,000 estimate. A portrait of “Queen Henrietta Maria as Saint Catherine” by a follower of Sir Anthony van Dyke (Flemish/English, 1599-1641), appeared to be in its original, hand-carved gilded frame, and achieved $9,000. One of the more unusual paintings in the auctions was titled “Legs of Sir Robert Napier, Bart.,” created after a waist-length painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds (English, 1723-1792). Likely a student study, the legs portrait multiplied its $800-$1,200 estimate to $8,400.
Second place in the auction’s third day went to an 18K gold dual time Turkish market pocket watch, surpassing its $2/3,000 estimate to achieve $39,000. From a starting bid of $1,000, the price jumped to $11,000, and a bidding war ensued. This may or may not have something to do with the rear guilloche case’s decoration: an affixed crest of Abdul Hamid II, 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (r. 1876-1909). His reign is considered to be the last overseeing a complete but rapidly fracturing state, which would cease to exist under Sultan Mehmed VI following the end of World War I in 1922. The watch was in overall good condition with a “pristine dial,” having been kept in a family safety deposit box prior to the auction.
Formerly owned by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, this 18K dual time and date pocket watch prompted an exchange of bids that resulted in $39,000.
Classical marble statuary fragments were popular during the second day’s auction, many exceeding their original estimates. The muscular torso of a Roman athlete, 100-200 CE, retained some of his robe and an original bronze fixture on his back. Remounted on a mahogany museum plinth, the fragment won $23,750 against a $4/6,000 estimate. The Hellenistic head of Aphrodite from the grouping known as “The Aphrodite Anadyomene” (drying her hair), 200-300 BCE, was mounted on an Italian marble plinth and rose to $18,750 ($7/9,000). Another torso, this time of a woman with a “very nice delineation of her thin robe clinging to her figure,” 400-300 BCE, achieved $16,250 ($6,5/9,500).
Ornate Nineteenth Century walking sticks topped the first day’s auction, which offered a higher concentration of decorative arts. Three group lots of these stood out: first in the sale at $3,438 was a pair of walking sticks with gold plated tops, followed by a trio with ebony shafts for $2,625. Three more canes with gold filled tops and mother of pearl handles in a single lot also did well at $1,625.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as given by the auction house. Thomaston Place Galleries’ 2025 Jewelry Auction will occur on March 21, with a preview beginning March 18. For information, 207-354-8141 or www.thomastonauction.com.
