John Moran Auctioneers announce their March 8, 2011 Antiques Sale, featuring Continental furniture and decorative arts, silver, Native American artifacts, Persian rugs and mid-century modern design, as well as an eclectic selection of other items including American and European paintings, prints and bronzes.
Following a very successful January Antiques sale, in which ninety percent of the 390 lots sold, including 100 percent of the silver items, Moran’s is pleased once again to offer the types of exceptional pieces fresh from private collections and estates for which the market is still clearly showing a strong appetite.
Leading the auction is a Chinese export gilt-bronze-mounted black and gilt-lacquered bureau-cabinet, circa 1750, elaborately decorated with pagodas, trees, floral sprays and butterflies. Long part of a private Southern California collection, this large and imposing piece is offered with an estimate of $50,000 – 70,000.
One of the top lots of the array of sterling silver for sale is a hand-wrought flatware service for eight by Mexican maker Antonio Pineda, offered for $7000 – 10,000. One of the best-known modernist silversmiths, Pineda was born in Taxco, Mexico in 1919, and apprenticed with William Spratling for eight years before becoming a master silversmith with his own workshop. He firmly established his high rank on the international roster of silver makers when he exhibited alongside such luminaries as Georg Jensen at the 1944 exhibition of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. For many years Pineda’s work was sold through the high-end San Francisco retailer Gump’s. Flatware sets by Pineda are rare, as he specialized in jewelry designs.
Native American artifacts in the March sale include a Cochiti polychrome pottery storage olla (estimate: $2500 – 4000); two kachina dolls, one an 11-inch high Wapamu and the other a 9-inch high Hotote (estimates: $5000 – 7000 and $4000 – 5000 respectively); Navajo Germantown blankets (estimates: $5000 – 8000 and $2500 – 3500); and a Helen Cordero Cochiti pottery figural group, depicting a male storyteller and three children, offered for $3000 – 5000. Cordero (1915 – 1994), whose grandfather was a storyteller at the Pueblo, turned from making vessels to sculpting storyteller figures in 1964. Part of the charm of these sculptures is how the figures’ facial expressions and gestures indicate the tone of the story being told, which in this piece appears to be a frightening one.
Highlights of the mid-century design offerings include twenty-three glazed ceramic pieces by Vivika and Otto Heino, divided into nine lots and offered with estimates ranging from $500 – 1200. From the year of their marriage in 1950 until Vivika’s death in 1995, the Heinos produced elegant yet utilitarian pieces strongly influenced by Japanese art, the Arts and Crafts movement and the Bauhaus. They became leaders in the creation of a modernist aesthetic for ceramics and were known for their experiments with innovative glazes. True collaborators, they signed their pieces ‘Vivika + Otto’ regardless of which of them made the piece.
Other mid-century modern items include two circa 1961 ‘PK91’ Danish modern chromed steel and black leather folding stools by Poul Kjaerholm for E. Kold Christiansen (estimate: $2000 – 3000) and a Philip and Kelvin LaVerne (estimate: $3000 – 5000) bronze coffee table.
The selection of Persian rugs is lead by a 15 by 27-feet Khorasan rug, offered with an estimate of $5000 – 7000.
The sale’s fine art selection spans a wide range of 19th and 20th century American and European artists, all carrying very attractive estimates. Highlights include works by French painters Bernard Lorjou (1908 – 1986), Hughes Claude Pissarro (b. 1935), and British painters Roland Wheelwright (1870 – 1955), John Leighton (1822 – 1912) and Edwin Hayes (1820 -1904).
Many more items from the March 8th sale will be highlighted on Moran’s website, www.johnmoran.com, as they continue to arrive at Moran’s offices. A fully illustrated catalogue of the complete sale will be posted 2 – 3 weeks prior to the sale date.
The afternoon Discovery Session is scheduled to begin at 3:00 pm and the Evening Session will begin at 6:30 pm. All of Moran’s sales are held at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, CA and previewing is available at www.johnmoran.com or www.arfact.com, or in person the day of the sale. Bidding is available from the floor, by absentee or telephone, or online through Artfact.com
