Maine Antique Digest April 2015

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Maine Antique Digest, April 2015 31-D
- AUCTION -
The Chippendale carved cherrywood desk-
and-bookcase, Lancaster County, Pennsyl-
vania, circa 1785, 92½" x 42¼" x 22 1/8",
sold for $665,000 (est. $400,000/600,000) to
collector Peter Wunsch in the salesroom,
underbid by a collector on the phone. It
came from the collection of the late Bertram
and Trish Coleman of Bryn Mawr, Pennsyl-
vania, and was consigned by their daugh-
ter. Christie’s calls it one of the most sig-
nificant survivors of the distinctive school
of cabinetmaking in Lancaster County.
John J. Snyder (d. 2013) called it a unique
blending of Philadelphia rococo and Ger-
man baroque, which formed the strain of
Lancaster Chippendale. The central heart
motif on the tympanum is repeated on the
prospect door; there is egg-and-dart carv-
ing on the cornice and base moldings; and it
has distinctively carved flame finials. Sny-
der put forth the names of several carvers
working in Lancaster who embellished the
four known Lancaster desk-and-bookcases
with extravagant carving.
☞
Christie’s depended on estate consignments for its
January 23 one-session sale in NewYork City. There
were just 201 lots offered, with conservative esti-
mates, enabling 181 lots to find buyers. It was about 90%
sold by lot for a respectable $3,429,125. It could have been
more if John Singleton Copley’s portrait of Samuel Phillips
Savage, dated 1764, had sold. It had a $500,000/700,000
estimate. There was competitive bidding for desirable
American furniture and for some folk art.
A cherrywood desk-and-bookcase made in Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, circa 1785, with a heart carved in
its tympanum and another heart on its prospect door, sold
for $665,000 to collector Peter Wunsch in the salesroom;
the estimate was $400,000/600,000. Wunsch, like his
late father, Martin, seems to be in pursuit of fine exam-
ples of American furniture for the Wunsch Foundation at
the very same time the estate of his late father provides
Christie’s with choice furniture and silver to sell.
Dealers and advisors in the salesroom who bid for col-
lectors competed with plenty of bidders on the phones
and on line. Deanne Levison, bidding for a client, bought
a Federal Massachusetts clock in an inlaid mahogany
case. Its movement was by Caleb Wheaton, who worked
in Providence, Rhode Island; the case was made in 1796
by Ichabod Sanford, who worked in Luther Metcalf’s
shop in Medway, Massachusetts. It is inscribed in ink
“Luther” and in pencil “Metcalf / This Clock Case was
made by Ichabod Sanford in January 1796 / Clock made
by Caleb Wheaton of Providence, R.I.” This documented
clock (illustrated in Albert Sack’s 1993 The New Fine
Points of Furniture: Early American) came from the
respected collection of the late Ted and Ingie Kilroy in
Ohio. It is the most elaborate product of the Metcalf shop,
which is otherwise known only for its Windsor chairs. It
was almost certainly made for the master cabinetmaker’s
own use. It sold for $329,000 and was the most expensive
clock sold at auction during Americana Week.
Peter Sawyer of Exeter, New Hampshire, was an active
dealer at Christie’s and at Sotheby’s, too. At Christie’s he
competed with Clark Pearce of Essex, Massachusetts, a
furniture advisor, to buy a Queen Anne mahogany tur-
ret-top card table for $149,000 (est. $30,000/50,000).
Pearce, however, won in the battle with Sawyer for a fig-
ured mahogany serpentine-front chest of drawers made
in Massachusetts, 1765-85. Pearce paid $209,000 for it.
It was the most expensive chest of the week. It was fresh
and pristine, well proportioned, and with big, bold orig-
inal brasses, sculptural ball-and-claw feet, a center drop
on its skirt that echoes the knee blocks, and carving on
the chamfered corners. It will be hard to find a better one.
The price demonstrated that there is a market, albeit a
thin one, at the top.
Sawyer won the most lots in this competition. In addi-
tion to the small Boston turret-top tea table, he got two
blockfront chests of drawers that were made for the Hon-
orable William Bartlet in the Newburyport area of Mas-
sachusetts ($141,250 for both of them); a folk portrait
of Sarah Chandler Emerson by Ruth Whittier Shute and
Samuel Addison Shute ($173,000); a Boston side chair
with a fancy early needlework seat ($15,000); and a wal-
nut and cherrywood flat-top high chest of drawers, made
in Salem, Massachusetts, 1750-80, for only $8750 (est.
$5000/10,000).
“I felt encouraged by the week and came away, as I
usually do, feeling that it is difficult to buy good things
but pleased to get some choice objects at fair prices,” said
Peter Sawyer after the sale.
It seemed like a good time to buy. Furniture looked
much better up close than it did in the catalog, and
there was enthusiastic bidding that created a buzz in the
salesroom.
Advisor Alan Miller said he was a thrilled to buy Mar-
tin Wunsch’s large Philadelphia camelback sofa with full
Marlborough feet and its original casters for $100,000
(est. $50,000/80,000). At the height of the market such
sofas sold for much more.
Most of the folk art and the Outsider art was middle
range, estimated conservatively. Most of it sold, some for
less than similar examples are bringing at regional sales
and some for prices paid a generation ago. The pictures
and captions give details.
Christie’s, New York City
Lancaster County Desk-and-Bookcase Tops
Christie’s Americana Auction
by Lita Solis-Cohen
Photos courtesy Christie’s
There was competitive bid-
ding for desirable Ameri-
can furniture and for some
folk art. Christie’s put the carved trade figures from the collection of the late art
dealer Allan Stone in the front hall for the presale exhibition. To get bid-
ders in the spirit, Christie’s put a bidding paddle in the 104" high hand
of the ship’s figurehead, said to be Scottish. There was plenty of bidding
on that carving, and it sold to a collector in the salesroom for $40,000 (est.
$5000/10,000). Stone dealt in American contemporary art, but he collected
tribal art, Bugatti cars, Gaudi furniture, and American folk art. Christie’s
offered eight carvings from the Stone estate including a European carou-
sel figure in the form of a camel that sold on the phone for $20,000 (est.
$20,000/30,000). Pennington photo.
A Philadelphia 1770-80 Chippendale mahogany camelback sofa sold
with its upholstery removed. It is 40¼" high x 97" wide x 28" deep.
It sold in the salesroom for $100,000 (est. $50,000/80,000) to furniture
advisor Alan Miller of Quakertown, Pennsylvania. The sofa had been
in the estate of Eric Martin Wunsch. According to the catalog, “By
1772, when the Philadelphia Price Book was published, the Marlbor-
ough style was firmly established and offered alongside ‘crooked legs’
as an option for seating forms and tables. Made of mahogany, the sofa
offered here most closely resembles the model described under ‘Sof-
fas Marlborough Feet’ as that with ‘bases and brackets’ and priced at
£5. The bases refer to the applied foot moldings, and throughout the
book are offered only in conjunction with knee brackets. The absence
of brackets on this sofa and all other survivals of the form is proba-
bly due to the over-upholstered front seat rails. This sofa appears to
retain its original casters, which both protected the feet and aided in
the movement of the large form. According to the Price Book, casters
were an additional 10 shillings. By far the greatest cost, however, was
the upholstery, which would have added £10 to £20 to the final price.”
This 97" x 20¼" x 10½" clock
was made for Major Luther
Metcalf. The Federal brass-
mounted inlaid mahogany tall-
case clock has an inscription
documenting the movement to
Caleb Wheaton (1757-1827)
of Providence, Rhode Island,
and the case to Luther Met-
calf (1756-1838) and Ichabod
Sanford (1768-1860) of Med-
way, Massachusetts. The case is
inscribed in ink “Luther” and
in pencil “Metcalf/ This Clock
Case was made by/ Ichabod
Sanford in January 1796/
Clock made by Caleb Whea-
ton of Providence/ R.I.” The
clock sold for $329,000 (est.
$100,000/150,000) to dealer
Deanne Levison of Atlanta,
Georgia, in the salesroom.
It was the most expensive
clock sold at auction during
Americana Week.
The catalog is a good read. The furniture descriptions
were well researched by Martha Willoughby, and the
Outsider art, which did not perform well except for the
ones by Bill Traylor, was cataloged by specialist Cara
Zimmerman.
For more information, contact Christie’s at (212) 636-
2230; see the Web site ).
Bill Traylor (1854-
1949) drew Owl, doc-
umented to 1939, with
graphite on found 9¼"
x 5¾" cardboard. The
drawing sold to a phone
bidder for $51,250
(est. $20,000/40,000).
Owl has a Hirschl &
Adler Galleries and
Ricco/Maresca Gallery
provenance.