Maine Antique Digest May 2015

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28-B Maine Antique Digest, May 2015
- AUCTION -
The sale was to take place on Wednesday,
January 28 (the day of the faux blizzard). It
was moved to Friday, January 30. That day
proved a good day for business, even though the
sale had to shake the near total lack of interest
in several passed items of Admiral Lord Nelson
(1758-1805) iconography at the start of the auc-
tion from the generous selection of British goods
(39 lots from one American consignor).
It got going with paintings. There were three
paintings by Montague Dawson (1890-1973):
Sandstorm at Sea, $20,000 (includes buyer’s
premium); Gusty Winds, $31,250; and the ship
Minnie Achten , $10,000. A Napoleonic prison-
er-of-war bone model brought $10,625, and a sig-
nal cannon, $8125. A cane containing a telescope
with compass sold for $4750, and an armada of
British warships and sea battles on canvas sold
well.
The more familiar and the much
appreciated sold well. A 22" x 36"
painting by Fred Pansing (1844-
1912) of C.S.S. Alabama vs. U.S.S.
Kearsarge, 1864, sold for $27,500.
An oil on canvas by William How-
ard Yorke (1847-1921) of the Nor-
wegian bark Arctic of Sandefjord
sold for $5000. Jürgen Frederick
Huge (1809-1878) painted Exact, a
packet brig on a run to Savannah;
it brought $17,500. Frank Vining
Smith (1879-1967) portrayed the
Nantucket whaler Dauphin on a
36½" x 42" canvas that brought
$7500. William Bradford (1823-
1892) created a 9" x 14" painting of
Panther at anchor near an ice floe
in spring; it brought $31,250. James
Garner Babbidge (1844-1919) of
Maine painted the schooner Race
Rock outward bound; it sold for
$11,875. François-Joseph-Frederic
Roux (1805-1870) painted a por-
trait of the sloop Sylvie in Le Havre,
France. (This sloop was designed
by George Steers about the time
he designed the America .) The
painting sold for $11,875. Joseph
B. Smith (1798-1876) painted
a 26" x 36" portrait of schooner
J. W. Seaver, and it sold for $18,750.
Luca Papaluca (Italian, 1890-1934)
painted the steam yacht Sumar, and
that painting sold for $2750. Sam-
uel Walters (British, 1811-1882)
painted a 29" x 44" portrait of
clipper Vespasian, which brought
$10,000.
From the photography lots, a
lucky buyer obtained a boxed col-
lection of 12 platinum prints (each
14" x 17" and matted) by Frank H.
Child (1864-1904). They showed
yachts in the Newport, Rhode
Island harbor and Narragansett Bay
for a modest $1875. One measure
of a marine photographer’s impor-
tance was inclusion in Henry A.
Mott’s Yachts and Yachtsmen of
America (1894). Nathaniel Steb-
bins (1847-1922) and Charles E. Bolles (1847-
1914) were there, of course, as was Frank H.
Child. Child occupied the second floor above the
Newport Daily News at Thames and Mill Streets.
The prominent corner sign read “Child & Co. /
Artists in Photography.”
From Hoboken, New Jersey, there were paint-
ings by Antonio Jacobsen (1850-1921): S.S. City
of New York, 1890, $20,000; S.S. France, 1878,
$23,750; clipper Gamecock, 1918, unsold; S.S.
Cerea, 1909, unsold; R.M.S. Gallia, circa 1885,
$15,000; clipper Laomene, 1883, $15,000; S.S.
La Touraine, 1891, unsold; S.S. Orizaba, 1892,
$9375; Phantom (a pilot boat) meeting a mer-
chant brig, $37,500.
There were two interesting paintings by Eli-
Bonhams, New York City
Important Maritime Paintings and Decorative Art
by A.J. Peluso, Jr.
Photos courtesy Bonhams
The 19¼" long bone model of whaleboat
Azorean fetched $3750 (est. $2500/3500).
The relationship between the Portu-
guese of the Azores and Americans
goes back to the 17th century when
Azorean whalemen would join
American whalemen for the
hunt. American whaling was
over by the 1920s but not in
the Azores, which contin-
ued until 1986 when Por-
tugal joined the Euro-
pean Union. This
intriguing model
is updatable.
The sloop Sylvie (out of the NewYorkYacht Club) at Le Havre, France
in 1866 was designed by George Steers. After refit in 1857, she earned
a distinguished racing career, finishing third in the first defense of the
America’s Cup in 1870, won by Magic. The pencil, ink, and water-
color shows her in a soft morning mist and brought $11,875.
The portrait of brig Exact by Jürgen Frederick Huge (1809-1878) first
appeared in the Bonhams June 25, 2014, sale (consigned by the estate of
J. Burr Bartram Jr.) and passed. If at first you don’t succeed, try again
for $17,500. It was an atypical assignment, although built at Derby, Con-
necticut. The packet ran from Philadelphia to Savannah. Huge’s client
was the Exact’s owner, P. F. Roper (dates unknown), a ship builder, ship-
ping magnate, and yachtsman from Stonington, Connecticut. The pilot
boat #1 in the distance is named for Moses Hicks Grinnell (1803-1877),
successful shipping merchant, one-time congressman.
This painting depicts the sea battle between the Confederate raider
C.S.S. Alabama and the U.S.S. Kearsarge off the coast of France. The
decisive battle occurred after a lengthy pursuit that ended on June 19,
1864, with the victory for Captain John Winslow. The South lost the
Alabama , but Captain Raphael Semmes escaped. The 22" x 36" oil
painting is signed but not dated. Fred Pansing (1844-1912) painted
the battle scene from accounts, certainly, but produced a vivid and
dynamic image. “Hear” the explosions. “Smell” the gunpowder. “See”
the flare of light. The painting brought $27,500.
The pilot boat Phantom started life in Boston harbor in 1868 but subse-
quently was sold into the Sandy Hook pilots fleet. The painting depicts
Phantom (number 11) offering the unidentified brig her pilotage ser-
vice. She and a team of pilot boats rescued hundreds of passengers off
the Cunard steamer Oregon , which had been “run down and scuttled
by a disreputable coal schooner” ( Pilot Lore). Phantom was lost in the
blizzard of 1888 as were five seamen and the cook. Antonio Jacobsen’s
painting is dated 1891 as an homage. The painting sold for $37,500.
Agenre view of the busy river shows the packet Enterprise with
the crew to the left, the passengers to the right. It is towed by
a steamboat. You can smell the river. She is possibly the Enter-
prise built in 1847 by the new shipyard Perrine, Patterson &
Stack. It would have been a new ship for the newly arrived
James Buttersworth. The painting sold for $106,250.
sha Taylor Baker (1827-1890)—the
steam yacht Stranger and the schooner
J. Waterbury , unsigned but attributed.
Both failed to sell. Stranger also did
not sell in the Bonhams June 25,
2014, sale. Baker had trouble signing
his work; there was no consistent for-
mulation. He used his full name but
various versions of it. He sometimes
signed with a monogram. And for
some unknown reasons, on occasion
he didn’t sign at all. William A. Baker
(1911-1981), a distant relative of the
artist who had seen the most Baker
paintings, thought “the molding of the
sails, the high-lighted jib hanks and
mast hoops, and the spar buoy with the
gulls, almost as good as a signature.”
Maybe. William Baker added that they
had a “luminous” quality.
There were six paintings by James E.
Buttersworth (British/American, 1817-
1894). His painting of a British warship
in heavy weather, oil on board, 6" x 10",
was one of his small radiant gems. It’s
a study framed by portentous sky and
fearsome sea, possibly painted before
he came toAmerica in 1845, having had
a good look at examples of the genius of
J. M. W. Turner (English, 1775-1851).
The painting (est. $20,000/30,000) was
unaccountably passed. The painting of
Puritan and Genesta during the 1885
America’s Cup race, oil on board, 8" x
12", fetched $22,500; it shows the cut-
ters leading the fleet. A three-decker off
Belem Castle, oil on canvas, 18" x 24",
made $35,000; New York packet Enter-
prise entering the Thames, oil on board,
19" x 26", sold for $106,250. Cornelia
and Magic rounding buoy, oil on can-
vas, 22¼" x 34 1/8", described a race
within the 1874 yachting season, one of
the many moments of yachting history
saved by Buttersworth. For its $341,000
price it qualified for Best of Show.
For more information, see the web-
site ).
The more familiar and
the much appreciated
sold well.