At its Early Summer Quality Auction held on June 22 to 23, B.S. Slosberg, Inc. Auctioneers of Philadelphia featured some 350 lots of paintings, prints, and furniture during the first session, and a similar number of lots of fine art glass, porcelain, sculpture, and jewelry among a broad array of decorative objects in the second session.
For the 618 registered bidders, the focus seemed to be upon two Old Master paintings and an exceptional French Renaissance Revival mantel clock and garniture, among other top lots. Sold during the first session were two large-scale Old Master landscapes, of the Schools of Giovanni Panini and Francesco Guardi, which reached $25,300 and $8,050 respectively. The clock and garniture, from the early 1870’s and marketed by Bailey and Company, Philadelphia, prompted intense competition both on the phone and the gallery floor, settling at $16,100.
Among many distinctive furniture and furnishings lots were an Adams-style sofa table with refined and extensive hand-painted floral decoration, $2,530; an Empire carved mahogany tall post and tester bed from the mid-Atlantic region, $1,380; a Philadelphia Renaissance Revival small-scale walnut sidelock chest with original rose marble top and drawer fronts with carved stylized griffin head? pulls, $1,840; an early 20th-century Aubusson tapestry with landscape motif, $863; an elegant Regency mahogany fireside bench, $1,898; a Centennial Rococo Revival-style carved mahogany dining table, $2,645; and a small Renaissance Revival twin-door oak bookcase with lion mask corner brackets, $863. Among several noteworthy lots of Continental furniture were a Louis XV-style marquetry and parquetry two-drawer bombe commode, $1,725; a large-scale neoclassical-style bird’s-eye maple and floral paint-decorated dressing stand with mirror, $3,105; an exceptional Rococo Revival cast brass fire screen in the form of an artist’s palette with paint brushes pierced through, and retaining the apparently original screen? panel with a trompe l’oeil oil painting, $2,300; and a “Four Seasons” series of monumental figural cement garden sculptures, $2,070.
Two antique Sarouk room-size carpets each fetched $2,875, while a fine American Arts and Crafts andirons and tools set reached $2,245. Other paintings included a pair of genre scenes each with an elegant young woman in a landscape, signed H. Waldek, $1,955; a Zvi Mairovich acrylic, Jerusalem Panorama, $1,380; an Edmund Darch Lewis 1893 watercolor and gouache, Fishing Village on the New England Coast, $978; and an unsigned early 19th-century oil, Portrait of a Classical Woman, which even with significant paint loss reached $1,485.
Decorative objects presented in the sale’s second session also performed very well. A fine 1930’s sterling and enamel eleven-piece dresser set went out at $1,265; a Nakashima burl wood table lamp sold for $518; and among some 30 lots of art glass were: a GallÈ yellow and maroon cameo glass 16-inch vase, $2,760; a Steuben blue aurene compote-form vase, $1,380; a Thomas Webb 4-inch cabinet vase, $1,150; and a Quezal inverted feather design calcite and gold aurene 5-inch vase, $1,323. A Steuben crystal Excalibur paperweight reached $633, and a 1930’s Czech black glass perfume bottle sold for $288.? Bronzes included a Victor Salmones 16-inch female nude, $547; and a pair of Cousteau 21-inch figures, Boys Taming a Horse, $1,725; while a large-scale red marble Grand Tour architectural sculpture reflected the persistent strength in the market for this class of artifact, selling for $3,565.
A Slosberg tradition in its quality sales is a varied offering in pottery and porcelain, and this session was no exception.? An unusual late 19th-century seated Buddha with turquoise glaze sold for $518; a Johnson Bros. flow blue, Albany pattern 72-piece partial set confirmed its desirability with a $1,150 result; a Rookwood blue vellum glaze 6-inch vase dated 1916 and marked by Sara Sax as designer, brought $1,265; a rare Mettlach “medicine book” beer stein sold for $547; a Royal Bayreuth Devil Card partial coffee suite reached $518 even with rim chips on some pieces; and a Belleek fish-form 7-inch vase finished the sale at $242.
For the new auction season in Fall 2008, the first Slosberg quality sale will take place on October 5 and 6. As always, consignments are welcome for exceptional examples of American, European, and Oriental paintings, furniture, and decorative objects representing all periods.
For more information, phone (215) 425-7030; or visit online at www.bssauction.com
