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6-B Maine Antique Digest, March 2015
- AUCTION -
New Orleans, Louisiana
Neal’s Louisiana Purchase Auction: The Main Event
by Karla Klein Albertson
I
n spite of a substantial weekend estate sale in
September, Neal Auction’s annual Louisiana
Purchase Auction contained so much mate-
rial that it was presented as a three-day event
of more than 1400 lots November 21-23, 2014.
This particular sale shines a spotlight on regional
material from New Orleans, Louisiana, and the
South, within the framework of a diverse auction
encompassing many specialties.
The Friday afternoon session was a perfect
opening because it focused on a one-owner
collection of Mardi Gras memorabilia from its
late 19th/early 20th-century golden age. Isabel
Spelman Devereux (1883-1955) grew up loving
Mardi Gras in a family that participated in the
festivities; she herself was a maid in the Court of
Rex in 1904. She not only saved the ephemera
and trifles of the season, but she also took care
of them over the years. For example, a Rex ball
invitation of 1883—theme “Atlantis, the Antedi-
luvian World”—was preserved with all its bits:
invitation, envelopes, and admit cards. No won-
der it brought $1220.
Neal vice president Rachel Weathers said of
the collection, “The condition was pristine. How
that ephemera survived in this climate in such
good condition. The story is that the material
was in a box under the grandmother’s bed, and
the children weren’t allowed to play with it. She
saved these things, and they were very carefully
kept the whole time. Some of those ball invita-
tions were very clever—they are works of art.”
To help with the cataloging, Neal enlisted the
aid of historian Henri Schindler, author of refer-
ences on Mardi Gras memorabilia, and Wayne
Phillips, curator of costumes and textiles at the
Louisiana State Museum. In addition to ball
invitations, there
were ball favor
pins, molded and
enameled with a
motif to reflect
that year’s theme,
such as “Legends
from the Court of
King Arthur,” “Satan Dethroned,” or “The Car-
nival of Venice.”Also included was a section of
parade bulletins and another of costume props.
All pieces were sold as individual lots with accu-
rate estimates; final prices ranged from several
hundred to several thousand dollars.
Regional art, traditional landscapes and por-
traits from the 18th and 19th centuries, and mod-
ern works by 20th-century artists produced most
of the “top 20” five- and six-figure prices at the
sale. Once again, Neal was able to offer a portrait
by Mexican artist José Francisco Xavier de Sala-
zar y Mendoza (c. 1750-1802) as the cover lot.
The sitter was Edinburgh-educated Dr. Robert
Dow (1753-c. 1841), who traveled in the Carib-
bean with his brothers, obtained an appointment
to the Royal Hospital in New Orleans in 1779
under the Spanish government, and married a
widow he met there. The carefully researched
three-page catalog entry on the portrait contains
a wealth of information about the painter and his
subject.
In the painting Dow holds a quite legible note
to his sister Ann Dow Ker; it may have been
painted as a wedding present for her. The 37" x
28¼" portrait remained in England for centuries
before returning to New Orleans, where it sold
for $250,000 (est. $80,000/120,000) to a local
collector after spirited bidding. President Neal
Alford, on the podium for that lot, said later, “I
thought it was a terrific price; there was a lot
of interest, five registered bidders, including an
institution, which almost won but not quite. I
think Spanish colonialism is an overlooked part
of American history, particularly in the fine and
decorative arts. That Salazar worked here is pro-
foundly important. Looking at the entire auction
from a business standpoint, I thought some prices
were very, very strong, showing that when people
want things, they are willing to pay for them.”
This sale also presented a meaningful selec-
tion of 19th-century southern silver, including
many pieces made in New Orleans. A historically
important coin silver ladle, which once belonged
to the Ursuline Convent in the French Quarter,
sold for $11,053.75 (est. $4000/6000). The serv-
ing piece was marked by silversmith Anthony
Rasch (1778-1858), who moved from Philadel-
phia to New Orleans in 1820. A beaker marked
The best
of the best
found the
right buyers.
Hunt Slonem’s works often turn up in New Orleans. Born in 1951 in Kittery,
Maine, he studied art at Tulane University. This 2002 panel of
Lories
(Pacific
parrots), 31¾" x 81¼", was particularly appealing, and a world record for
the artist was set when it sold to the Internet for $18,450 (est. $6000/9000).
Cover lot, top of the chart, and undisputed star of
the sale, the 1791 portrait of English physician Dr.
Robert Dow by José Francisco Xavier de Salazar y
Mendoza (c. 1750-1802) was purchased for a nice
round $250,000 by a local collector after spirited
bidding. New Orleans was a sophisticated city in
the late 18th century, and the Mexican painter was
the go-to guy for an international clientele. The
portrait of Dow shows his skill in portraying the
dignity and humanity of his subjects. As indicated
by the note in the sitter’s hand, the painting seems
to have been a gift for a favorite sister back home.
It had spent the intervening centuries in England.
Photo courtesy Neal Auction Company.
by the Saint-Domingue-born Lamothe broth-
ers, who had an active workshop in New Orle-
ans from 1824 to 1846, sold for $5078.75 (est.
$1000/2000), and a tablespoon by Jean-Noel
Delarue (1776-1842) sold for $2270.50. The
demand for early examples is certainly present.
Art pottery collectors had a banquet of New-
comb College vases to choose from with exam-
ples decorated by almost all of the major female
artists working in the school studios at the turn
of the 19th/20th century. These included several
by Marie de Hoa LeBlanc, including a 1909 vase
with blue and green glazed tulips modeled in low
relief, which brought $15,535, and a tapering
high-glaze vase from 1908, in the same colors,
with freesia around the rim, that sold for $10,755.
The auction gallery on Magazine Street is
always crowded by midmorning Saturday with
bidders and watchers who live for those high
points when a lot takes off and ten staff mem-
bers have to man the phones. Providing some of
those exciting moments were lots from a major
consignor to the sale, the estate of Mobile busi-
nesswoman and socialite Aloyis Lee Sonneborn.
Proceeds from the estate were to benefit the
Harry J. and Aloyis L. Sonneborn Foundation
Trust, which provides college scholarships to
students in Sonneborn’s city. Her husband, Harry
Sonneborn, was an early chairman and CEO
of McDonald’s. The collection included jew-
elry, paintings, Continental antiques, and Asian
art; $318,000 was raised in this sale, and more
Rachel Weathers, vice president of
paintings and fine art, was happy to
pose with her premier offering, the
1791 Salazar portrait of Dr. Robert
Dow.
Clever designs and
vivid chromolithogra-
phy make Mardi Gras
ball invitations visually
appealing. This Rex
example from 1882,
with the theme “Pursuit
of Pleasure,” sold for
$1912. Photos courtesy
Neal Auction Company.
Louisiana loves lighting, and in
this case, the cranes, etched on the
delicate globes and cast in metal,
may have been the clincher. A pair
(one shown) of three-light gasoliers
made by Cornelius & Baker, Phila-
delphia, sold to a phone bidder for
$25,095 (est. $3000/5000) during
the Sunday session at the Caron-
delet Street gallery. Photo courtesy
Neal Auction Company.
A perfect fit with the regional
themes of the annual Louisiana
Purchase Auction, the Isabel
Spelman Devereux collection of
Mardi Gras memorabilia led off
the three-day Neal sale on Fri-
day afternoon. This 1883 ducal
badge from Rex, which brought
$2151 (est. $500/1000), had been
illustrated in Henri Schindler’s
Mardi Gras Treasures: Jewelry
of the Golden Age
. Schindler and
Wayne Phillips, curator of cos-
tumes and textiles at the Louisi-
ana State Museum, helped Neal
catalog the extensive collection.
Photo courtesy Neal Auction
Company.