Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

John Moran Summer Decorative and Fine Arts Auction July 19

John Moran Auctioneers’ July 19th Antiques and Decorative Arts Auction will feature an impressive selection of silver, bronzes, porcelain, art glass, Arts and Crafts and mid-century modern design, as well as European and American fine art. While encompassing a broad range of styles and eras, the 200-lot sale is characterized by a consistently high level of quality throughout.

Moran’s sale will also include a landmark in the history of book publishing in the form of four volumes of the sumptuous ‘Bibliomaniac Edition’ of The Works of Charles Paul De Kock (estimate: $6000 – 9000). Published in 1902-3 by Frederick J. Quinby, founder of the Harcourt Bindery of Boston, the Bibliomaniac edition was hailed at the time as the greatest achievement in American bookbinding. Each complete Bibliomaniac set comprised 100 volumes and only ten of the complete sets were published. Made of the most costly and rare materials, each set was originally priced at $50,000. The edition is printed on vellum (and set an all-time record for printing in quantity on vellum) using hand presses, requiring invention of a special process to overcome the technical difficulty of printing on the oil-rich parchment. Each volume is bound in red Levant Morocco leather decorated with gilt tulips and lilies, and illustrated with original works of art, including etchings by John Sloan and watercolors and drawings hand-painted directly onto the parchment by Louis Meynell, William Glackens, E. Boyd Smith and W. F. Scott, and illuminations by Helen Sinclair Patterson & Ella Grace Brown. The four volumes in Moran’s sale are de Kock’s ‘Frere Jacques’ and include the original red Morocco leather boxes with 14K yellow gold clasps, and they are monogrammed on the flyleaves with a gilt ‘M’.

Silver items comprise a quarter of the sale, and include flatware, serving pieces, center bowls and a wide variety of other items by Shreve and Co., Gorham, Towle, Tiffany, Georg Jensen, Clemens Friedell, S. Kirk and Sons, and Wallace; Victorian and Edwardian, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, and Mexican Modernist silver are also offered. Among them are an American coin silver three-piece tea service by early 19th century New York maker Edward Rockwell offered for $2500 – 3500, and a superb George II sterling silver soup tureen (estimate: $6000 – 9000) featuring an unusual artichoke-shaped finial. The body of the tureen was made in 1739 in Dublin and bears the maker’s mark of John Hamilton, and the lid was made in 1750 in London, with maker’s mark of William Cripps.

Other decorative arts items form an impressive showcase of top 19th and early 20th century European makers. Offerings of glass include pieces by Loetz, Tiffany and Lalique, including a green and blue patinated, frosted ‘Sauterelles’ (‘Grasshoppers’) vase (estimate: $4000 – 6000). A set of twelve Saint Louis ‘Thistle’ gold parcel gilt clear glass water goblets is offered for $1200 – 1500. Porcelain items include Royal Vienna and Paris porcelain, led by a pair of large Paris porcelain hand-painted vases, signed Maxant (estimate: $10,000 – 15,000), and a Louis XVI style gilt-and-patinated-bronze-mounted Sevres style center bowl (estimate: $4000 – 6000). Bronzes and metalware are highlighted by a Louis XV / XVI style porcelain-mounted gilt and silvered bronze encrier (estimate: $4000 – 6000) and a pair of Louis XVI style gilt-bronze urn-form lamps, Victor Paillard (estimate: $3000 – 5000). A patinated- bronze figure, ‘Le Chanteur Florentin’ after Paul Dubois, bears the Barbedienne mark and is offered for $1000 – 2000 and a Boucher figure of a woman playing the violin, after Alfred, is estimated to bring $2500 – 4000.

Offerings in the area of Arts and Crafts design include an oak sideboard by Scottish maker Ernest Archibald Taylor (1874 – 1951) inlaid with mixed metal and wood marquetry ($2000 – 3000); a Limbert oak desk ($700 – 1000); and a Stickley Brothers oak settle ($700 – 1000); and pottery by Rookwood and Van Briggle. Collectors will also find lamps such as a Tiffany Studios patinated bronze and Favrile glass three-light ‘Lily’ desk / piano lamp, # 320 (estimate: $1500 – 2500); a Pairpoint ‘Puffy’ reverse painted glass and patinated metal ‘Papillon’ (‘Butterfly’) lamp (estimate: $2500 – 3500); and a Hampshire matte green glazed pottery lamp, with leaded glass tulip shade (estimate: $1000 – 1500). A handsome and unusual Gustav Stickley hammered copper wine cooler is offered for $3000 – 5000.

Mid-century modern items continue to sell very well at Moran’s, and this month’s selection includes a Vladimir Kagan ‘Capricorn’ white enameled five-piece patio dining suite with three-legged chairs (estimate $2000 – 3000); a Piero Fornasetti coffee table decorated with a school of fish ($1500 – 2500); and a Gerald McCabe oak dining table and benches, from his Orange Crate Modern line (estimate: $2000 – 3000). McCabe, who died in 2010, is known for his collaborations with Case Study architect Pierre Koenig, and for his technical precision and innovative use of materials. He also founded the legendary McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, CA.

European paintings are highlighted by a charming portrait of two children by Johann Georg Meyer Von Bremen (1813-1886 German) titled ”Geschwisterliebe”, (Brother’s and Sister’s Love) offered for $6000 – 8000; and a depiction of a woman knitting in an interior, beautifully lit by sunlight streaming through a window, by Pierre Joseph Toussaint (1822 – 1888 Belgian) (estimate: $3000 – 5000). American art offerings include a gelatin silver print by O. Winston Link (1914 – 2001), his famous ‘’NW1103, Hot Shot Eastbound at the Iaeger Drive-In, West Virginia’’, and a photogravure by Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952 Los Angeles, CA), ”Oasis in the Badlands”. In all 72 European and American paintings and prints will be offered.

The sale is scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, July 19th. It will be preceded by the un-catalogued, no-reserve “Discovery Sale” at 3:00 pm. The preview for both sales opens at noon on the 19th. All of Moran’s sales are conducted at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, CA. Full sale catalogues are posted at www.johnmoran.com 2 -3 weeks prior to each sale. Bidding for the evening session is available from the floor and via absentee, telephone or online through Artfact.com.

Consignments are accepted throughout the year for Moran’s Antiques and Decorative Arts Auctions, held seven times a year, and for their California and American Fine Arts Auctions, held tri-annually in February, June and October. Please contact Moran’s offices at 626-793-1833 or [email protected] for more information.

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