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34-A Maine Antique Digest, April 2015
- AUCTION -
Circa 1880 black transferware show-
ing Canadian winter scenes are popular
amongst Canadiana collectors. Three
plates and one sugar bowl came to the
block. Shown is the plate featuring a girl
on a toboggan (7" diameter) that fetched
$1210, and one of two plates showing men
and boys skating (about 7" diameter),
both of which earned $1100.
Another piece in the Canadian sports
scenes series: a circa 1880 black trans-
ferware sugar bowl, 5½" high, with two
children and a dog sledding on one side
and lacrosse players on the reverse,
sold for $1870. Thompson photo.
A rather effective painting on vel-
lum on a black ground, titled
This-
tles, Dandelion and Butterfly
, 11" x
8", sold for $3850. It was attributed
to German artist Barbara Regina
Dietzsch (1706-1783).
An oil on canvas portrait of a
naval officer, 25" x 18", in the
manner of the English school,
sold for $1155.
A raging battle between French and British
ships of the line on an ironically calm sea
made a fascinating subject for Canadian
artist George Thresher (1780-1857) in his
signed oil on canvas, 22" x 28", titled
Naval
Engagement
that sold for $4070.
Not to be confused with his famous father, Lawren
J. Harris followed in the family business, becom-
ing a fairly prominent educator on Canada’s East
Coast. His oil on panel
Landscape
(14½" x 16½") is
reminiscent of his father’s most famous early work
with the Group of Seven. It sold for $1100.
An acrylic on board, signed upper
right by Canadian artist Phillip
Henry Surrey (1910-1990), titled
Winter Bus
, 6" x 8", closed for
$2090.
In his 1992 inventory, Rus-
sell referred to this piece as
a “Queen Anne black lac-
quered cabinet, two doors
enclosing drawers, c. 1740.”
With lacquered wood and
eight interior double doors,
it fetched $2200 in active
bidding.
A red pencil sketch of a nude, 19" x
10", by noted New Brunswick art-
ist Miller Gore Brittain (1912-1968)
sold for $440.
Four unsigned 18th-century Italian school
oil on canvases (all 23" x 29") depicting fig-
ures under monumental architecture sold:
Two Men Meeting under an Arch, $330;
Washing a Newborn
, $330;
A Clandestine
Meeting
(shown), $770; and
The Street
Urchin
, $770. Thompson photo.
At left, an early 19th-century English
mahogany serving cabinet settled for $325,
and a pair of French fruitwood armchairs
(one shown) earned $605. Thompson
photo.
Noted CanadianArts and Crafts artisan
Paul Beau worked in metal, ultimately
creating many of the iron fittings for
the Canadian Parliament buildings
when the Centre Block was rebuilt in
1917 and completed in 1922. (The orig-
inal building had been destroyed by an
accidental fire.) He is most noted for his
decorative work with wrought brass
and copper. This copper-trimmed brass
tray is his work. It sold to a Montreal
collector for $330. Thompson photo.
A painted metal hearth box with cover
on paw feet sold for $660.
A green marble sculpture, 8" wide, by an unknown
artist, depicting a lion and globe, sold for $742.50.
This was a gift to John L. Russell from Ms. Enid
Pemberton.
This 20th-century Mexican 20-22k gold votive
pendant, 4" high, in the Mixtec (Monte Alban)
manner, came with a fitted box with a plaque read-
ing: “Pectoral de Oro Encantrado en Papantla
Ver Mexico Civilizacion Mixteca 1100-1250 d.c.
Original en el Museo Nacional de Antropologia de
la Ciudad de Mexico.” Weighing in at 3.7 ounces,
the pendant sold for $4400.
A lithograph “aerial” map of Kingston
commanded a price of $3410.