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SELECTION OF AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
FURNITURE AND DECORATIONS
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Lot 2138
Set of Six Federal Mahogany Side Chairs
New York, circa 1800
Including two armchairs, each with a stepped crest above a carved and pierced draped urn-form splat surmounted by Prince of Wales feathers, over an overupholstered seat, raised on reeded straight tapering legs.
Property from the Estate of Mrs. William B. F. Drew
Sold to a buyer from New England for $25,000
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Lot 2266
American Silver Hilted Short Saber
Isaac Hutton (Active 1808-1816), Albany, New York, circa 1810 Finely detailed lion's head pommel with silver wire wrapped ivory grip, capstan rivet, two maker's touch marks inside knuckle-bow. Curved blade, probably French, as imported by Lemuel Wells & Co., New York City, with single fuller, decorated half the length in blue, etching and gilt, with shields, floral surrounds and E Pluribus Unum in gilt. Original leather scabbard with three silver scrolled edge mounts decorated with a single rule.
Length overall 33 3/4 inches, length of blade 28 inches, width at hilt 1 3/8 inches.
Exhibited: The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., American Silver Mounted Swords 1700-1815, 1955.
Literature: This sword is pictured in the catalogue for the American silver hilts from the above exhibition, Harold Peterson's American Silver Mounted Swords 1700-1815. Peterson 40.
See also: Mowbray, E. Harold. The American Eagle-Pommel Sword. The Early Years, 1794-1830. Lincoln: 1988, p. 144 Peterson, Harold. The American Sword, 1775-1945. Mineola, 2003.
Sold to a buyer from New York for $25,000
Some of the finest American silver hilts of the Federal era came from
Albany, New York. The firm of brothers, Isaac and George Hutton was
renowned for its very original and distinctive eagle pommels and were
sought after for their handsome designs and robust mountings, often
employing more silver than the thin coin variety favored by many
American silversmiths of the time. Interestingly, Isaac Hutton was not
known solely as a silversmith, but was also listed in period directories
as a general military outfitter. Here, the maker employs the lion head,
a standard design of huge popularity during the Revolutionary era. This
late, but particularly fine example additionally has an important
exhibition provenance.
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Lot 2329
Set of Six Federal Mahogany Side Chairs
New York, circa 1795
Each draped shield-form back above an overupholstered seat raised on reeded legs.
Property from the Estate of Mrs. William B. F. Drew
Sold to a buyer from New England for $21,250
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Lot 2324
Federal Flame Birch, Maple and Mahogany Bow-Front Chest of Drawers
North Shore, Massachusetts, early 19th century
The rectangular top above four banded cock-beaded drawers, each with an inlaid vertical panel of lunette inlay, all over a shaped skirt, raised on splayed bracket feet, with a paper label inscribed GINSBERG & LEVY, Inc. ANTIQUES 815 MADISON AVE. NEW YORK
Height 36 1/4 inches, width 41 inches, depth 21 3/4 inches.
Property from the Estate of Mrs. William B. F. Drew
Sold to a buyer from Maine for $18,750
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Lot 2106
English Transfer Printed Creamware Bowl
Early 19th century
Decorated with the ship The Constitution and various panels of American subjects, including John Adams, Boston Artillery, etc.; Together with a Bennington Style Flint Enameled Mixing Bowl.
Diameter 16 1/4 inches.
Sold to a buyer from New York for $16,250
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Lot 2185
Chippendale Walnut Bottle Chest
Mid Atlantic States, late 18th century
The hinged rectangular top opening to twelve bottle compartments, raised on bracket feet.
Height 12 inches, width 15 inches, depth 11 inches.
Sold to a buyer from Virginia for $11,250
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Lot 2334
Classical Mahogany Breakfront Bookcase
Possibly Philadelphia, second quarter of the 19th century
The pedimental cornice with three paneled plinths, above a pair of glazed doors flanked by two glazed doors, over four frieze drawers and four cupboard doors, raised on bun feet.
Height 7 feet 5 inches, width 7 feet 5 inches, depth 18 1/2 inches.
Sold to a Mid-Atlantic buyer for $7,500
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PAINTINGS
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Lot 2334
Erastus Salisbury Field
American, 1805-1900
Portrait of a Lady and Portrait of a Gentleman: Two
Oil on canvas
Each 30 x 24 inches
Estimate: $10,000-15,000
Sold to a buyer from the Mid-Atlantic for $9,375
This delightful pair of portraits was acquired from an antique shop in
Connecticut. In every respect: the precisely rendered details of
costume, the distinctive anatomy with short waists and narrow shoulders,
division of the canvas, and brushwork, the paintings are consistent with
portraits by Field from around 1830, when he was working in the
Connecticut valley.
Mary Black's description of Field's portraits from this period accords
perfectly with the details in the present works, reflecting the artist's
"unmistakable and characteristic difficulties in making hands and
figures look real: waists are too short, shoulders too narrow, arms too
long. While the bodies look awkward, his treatment of form is
distinctive and oddly appealing. These early portraits demonstrate the
young artist's efforts to master human anatomy and to teach himself
other skills, such as modeling, color placement, and composition. Fine
fabrics, jewels and curls reflect the upper middle-class status of his
clientele and add richness to the boldly scaled figures that fill the
canvases. A variation on the red-upholstered chair, with wooden arms
ending in curlicues like a snail's brown shell, appears frequently."
[Mary Black, Erastus Salisbury Field: 1805-1900. Springfield, Mass.,
Museum of Fine Arts, 1984, p. 15]
Also typical is what Black describes as a "shaded 'cloud' background,
painted in gradations from a dark margin to the light warm grey that
forms a halo outlining the head." [Mary Black, Erastus Salisbury Field:
1805-1900, op cit, p. 18] The flaccid, slender fingers, shading of the
noses, even the elfin ears, relate to other works by Field, as does the
tousled Byronic hair of the male figure. Even the frame with its ogee
molding and the size of the paintings are appropriate for work executed
by the artist around 1830.
The identity of this engaging couple is not known, but more than two
hundred portraits by Erastus Salisbury Field have been recorded.
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Lot 2014
Robert Deacon Peckham
American, 1785-1877
Portrait of Betsey Baker Thurston Davis, 1819
Oil on panel
26 3/4 x 22 1/2 inches
Provenance:
Helen B. Ihnen, Rutherford, NJ
Christie's New York, AMERICAN FURNITURE, SILVER, FOLK ART AND DECORATIVE ARTS, Tuesday, June 25, 1991 [Lot 123]
Literature:
John Davis Estabrook, Three Generations of Northboro Davises, 1781-1894. Westboro, Mass.: The Chronotype Printing Company, 1908, rep. p. 21
Helen B. Ihnen, "Search and Research," The Antiques Journal, March 1951, pp. 18, 20, rep. p. 18.
Sold to a buyer from New York State for $7,500
Born in 1763, Betsey Baker Thurston married as her third husband Deacon Isaac Davis of Northboro, Massachusetts. Three years later, in 1819, Deacon Davis commissioned Robert Peckham, a resident of nearby Westminster, to paint their likenesses According to family tradition, Peckham painted several members of the Davis family.
By the mid-twentieth century, the portrait had passed out of family hands. Helen B. Ihnen, who purchased the portrait of Mrs. Davis at an antique shop in New York City, wrote of her acquisition and her efforts to research the painting in an article in The Antiques Journal in March 1951. A scrapbook of Mrs. Ihnen's research and correspondence concerning the portrait and Davis family genealogy accompanies the lot. In her article, Mrs. Ihnen describes an old bill in the Davis family records, reading: Dea. Isaac Dayas / To Robert Peckham, Dr. / 1815, April 15 / To painting to portraits / $24.000 / Received payment / Robert Peckham
Wearing a demure bonnet, a beaded necklace and a long-sleeved Empire dress decorated with a fashionably high frilled neck, Mrs. Davis is attired in a style appropriate to the period.
A Massachusetts portrait painter, Robert Peckham was active in the country districts of New England, but also spent time in Boston and Northampton after his marriage.
By 1821 he had settled in Westminster, where he established a reputation for portrait painting. His portrait of John Greenleaf Whittier is owned by the Worcester Historical Association; other examples of his work are included in the collections of the Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, Massachusetts; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Deacon Robert was also an abolitionist and his home was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
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Lot 2007
Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Memin
American, 1770-1852
Portrait of Dr. Thomas Parke, a Philadelphia Doctor
Black chalk with white highlights on pink-tinted paper laid down to paper
19 x 14 1/8 inches
Sold to a Mid-Atlantic buyer for $6,875
"Between 1796 and 1810, Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Memin
(1770-1852) created some of the most memorable images in the history of
American portraiture. Nearly a thousand Americans sat for portraits,
among them Thomas Jefferson, Paul Revere, Mother Seton, Meriwether
Lewis, and Charles Willson Peale. Saint-Memin's popularity rested on a
growing appreciation for profiles as a particularly truthful form of
portraiture, and his distinctive images have come to epitomize Federal
America." [Ellen G. Miles, Saint-Memin and the Neoclassical Profile
Portrait in America. Washington, DC: National Portrait Gallery and
Smithsonian Institution, 1994.]
Saint-Memin first established his business in New York City in 1796,
working in association with Thomas Bluget de Valdenuit and employing a
physiognotrace - a device not unlike a pantograph - to record their
subjects' portraits in profile. Each client received the original crayon
drawing on buff or pink paper, a copper plate engraved with the
likeness, and a dozen portrait engravings. The partnership foundered in
1797, and Saint-Memin moved to Philadelphia the following year. Within
five years he had made about 270 portraits in the City of Brotherly
Love, before becoming an itinerant artist in 1803. An advertisement from
1801 lists his fee for the crayon drawing, copper plate and engravings
as twenty-five dollars. The present work depicts Dr. Thomas Parke
(1749-1834), a prominent Philadelphia physician and founder of the
Philadelphia College of Physicians and a curator of the American
Philosophical Society. The details of costume - including the absence
of an M-notch in the sitter's lapel - would appear to confirm a date of
execution before 1803.
The engraved portrait of Dr. Park is listed as no. 642 in Saint-Memin
and the Neoclassical Profile Portrait in America. The present work, the
original crayon likeness, was unknown at the time of publication. Its
frame, with the glass decorated with black paint and gold leaf, is
consistent with the type provided by Saint-Memin and is probably
original.
Please note this lot is accompanied by a broadside dated December 1779,
advertising the rental of property owned by Dr. Thomas Parke.
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Lot 2068
Alfred S. Mira
American, 1900-1980
The El
Signed Mira (lr)
Oil on canvas
12 x 16 inches
This painting depicts the clocktower of a Greenwich Village landmark, the Jefferson Market, and the Sixth Avenue elevated train, looking north toward the Empire State Building.
Sold to a buyer from New York for $4,687
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Lot 2075
Victor Coleman Andersons
American, 1882-1937
Riders in the Spectacle
Signed Victor C. Anderson (ll); inscribed on the backing Victor C. Anderson/195 Battle Ave/White Plains N.Y./June 12, 1936 (lc) and Price.../Circus Sketch (ul)
Oil on board
12 x 9 inches
Provenance:
Grand Central Art Galleries Inc., New York, no. D1748
Alexander Gallery, New York
Sold to a buyer from New York for $4,687
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PRINTS
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Lot 2095
Currier & Ives, publishers
LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE: THE TRAPPERS DEFENCE, "FIRE FIGHT FIRE"
Hand-colored lithograph, 1862.
Image 18 7/16 x 27 3/16 inches
Sheet 20 3/4 x 28 7/8 inches
Property from the Estate of Hy Zaret
Sold to a buyer from New England for $3,437
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