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8-B Maine Antique Digest, March 2015
- AUCTION -
Michelle LeBlanc Leckert,
vice president, waits her turn
on the auction podium where
she shares duties with Neal
Alford during the day.
Winner of the embellish-
ment award, this Amer-
ican mahogany side-
board had been skillfully
carved, ebonized, gilded,
and stenciled to suit the
Classical taste in vogue
around 1825. Positioned
to greet auction-goers at
the front door, the showy
piece drew bidding from
the floor and phones,
bringing a final price of
$8663.75.
French painter François Bernard (1812-c.1880) was
active in Louisiana 1856-75, but landscapes attributed
to him are rare. Nice touches in this good-sized painting
(35 1/8" x 51¾") were the white egret at the water’s edge
and an alligator lurking in the bayou at lower right.
Both the floor and phones pushed bidding, and the price
slowly rose to $60,945 (est. $15,000/25,000).
While there were other Louisiana landscapes
by New Orleans artist Alexander John Drysdale
(1870-1934) in the sale, moonlight on the water
added a special quality to this 1914 oil paint-
ing, 18½" x 24½ ", boosting the final price to
$10,370 (est. $4000/6000).
Although a decorated war hero who pro-
tected the port of New Orleans during the
Napoleonic Wars, Zachary Taylor (1784-
1850) seems to be a forgotten in American
history. The Taylor portrait brought $3355,
while, not shown, a portrait of Confederate
General Robert E. Lee by Nicola Marschall
(1829-1917) sold for $8365.
A circa 1860 Admiral
Fitzroy’s
barometer
bore a plaque that read
“Pike/ Optician/ 518
Broadway/ New York”
and sold for $2629.
The
Aeneid
, that linguistic hurdle that every
Latin student must jump, was the theme of the
Krewe of Proteus’s 1884 celebration. These
dress-up helmets, probably French, which helped
revelers get in the mood to party Roman style,
brought $836.50. Photo courtesy Neal Auction
Company.
Before the start of the Sunday session at the
Carondelet Street gallery, president Neal
Alford and general manager Jason Leckert got
ready for a busy day.
Neal’s second location on Carondelet Street has ample space
to display larger sets of 19th-century furniture. In the fore-
ground, a rosewood Rococo Revival half-tester bed brought
$26,290. At center is the towering bed and dresser, part of a
three-piece Renaissance Revival walnut bedroom suite, proba-
bly by Mitchell and Rammelsberg of Cincinnati, that sold for
$9560.
Furniture carved in this distinc-
tive Gothic Revival style is always
attributed to the “Stanton Hall
Master” because of its associa-
tion with the well-known Natchez
house of that name. Frederick
Stanton purchased his furniture
in New Orleans, where examples
from this group continue to turn
up at auction. The phones lit up
for these identical lots; the first
chair sold for $7767.50, the sec-
ond for $8365. Both were
estimated at $4000/6000.
Photos courtesy Neal Auc-
tion Company.
Trained in Boston and Paris, Frank Weston Benson (1862-
1951) was drawn to the outdoor life and painted watercolors
of some of his favorite fishing spots. This circa 1930 view,
14½" x 22½", of the Dog River near Mobile Bay in Alabama
sold for $22,705 to a phone bid. Photo courtesy Neal Auction
Company.
Speaking of Mardi Gras, just
a few steps down Magazine
Street from Neal Auction,
Uptown Costume and Dance-
ware is open all year for cele-
bratory requirements. Young
girls at the counter were select-
ing sparkly masks for a week-
end party. On the rack, buyers
can find the essential corset for
every girth—worn as an outer
garment in New Orleans—and
that secret fantasy, the showgirl
headdress. Spend some money
at that store, and your mama
would not recognize you.