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32-E Maine Antique Digest, May 2015
- AUCTION -
tombola
: a type of lottery, espe-
cially at a fete, in which tick-
ets are drawn from a revolving
drum.
M
ore than 120 years after
it first served as a fund-
raiser for the Cincinnati
Art Club, a painter’s palette dec-
orated with 12 vignettes, each
by a different Ohio artist, once
again became a prize, selling for
$50,400 (includes buyer’s pre-
mium) during the fine and deco-
rative arts sale held February 20
and 21 by Cowan’s Auctions in
Cincinnati.
The price was well over the
$20,000/30,000 estimate, but
Graydon Sikes, director of Cow-
an’s fine and decorative arts
department, had mixed feelings.
“It is, in my opinion, the
most rare, the most important
thing I’ve ever handled as far
as regional art is concerned,” he
noted. “I said before I sold it that
I’d be disappointed no matter
what it brought.”
The Cincinnati Art Club tom-
bola panel—named for the raffle
through which it was sold—is
the earlier example of only two
known. Until recently, no one in
the art world knew it existed. “It
was totally buried,” said Sikes.
The panel came from what he
described as “an old, old family
in Cincinnati” that once owned a
carriage company. It’s believed
a member of the family won the
panel in a Cincinnati Art Club
raffle in the late 19th century.
Over the years, the piece was set
aside and forgotten.
Dated 1894, the panel bore the
work of 12 artists:
* Henry Farny (1847-1916),
known for his Native American
scenes, painted a panoramic
landscape with Indians, one
on horseback, in front of an
encampment with teepees.
*
Arthur
LeBoutillier
(1852-unknown), a painter of
miniatures and also a surgeon,
had a portrait of a man.
* Thomas Corwin Lindsay
(1839-1907), a native of Cincin-
nati, known for his landscapes,
painted an impressionistic scene
with buildings near water.
* Lewis Henry Meakin (1850-
1917), a landscape painter, made
an impressionistic marine scene
with sailboats.
* Edward Potthast (1857-
1927), a native of Cincinnati
and an American Impression-
ist painter best
known for his
beach scenes
of New England
and New York,
including Coney Island,
did a portrait of a woman.
* John Good Reilly (1858-
1937), a Cincinnati Reds first
baseman who became a land-
scape artist and lithographer,
painted a landscape of a tree-
lined river at sunset.
* John Rettig (1858-1932), a
fresco artist known for his large-
scale theatrical projects, made a
portrait titled
A Moorish Dancer
.
* Martin Rettig (1869-1956),
a still life painter who started as
a pottery decorator, brother of
John Rettig, did a portrait of a
woman.
* Avery Sharp (active late
19th century), a portrait painter
and brother of Joseph Henry
Sharp, made another portrait of
a woman.
*
Kitaro
Shirayamadani
(1865-1948), one of the most
noted decorators at Rookwood
Pottery Company, painted a
landscape with a pair of rooks
taking flight from a snowy clear-
ing near pine trees.
* Albert Valentien (1862-
1925), a pottery decorator and
head of Rookwood’s decorating
department, made a nautical
scene with boats at rest on the
water.
* Charles T. Webber (1825-
1911), Cincinnati’s senior resi-
dent artist during the 1890s and
a landscape painter, painted an
impressionistic landscape with
figures and an animal crossing
a narrow bridge leading toward
buildings in the distance.
The Cincinnati Art Club was
founded in 1890, and its primary
mission was to “promote the
knowledge and appreciation of
art” while providing artists with
a reputable venue to exhibit their
work. In the early years, funds
were raised through tombolas.
Until recently, the only tom-
bola prize known was an 1897
panel showing the works of 29
artists. That piece is on long-
term loan to the Cincinnati Art
Museum, where it is considered
a local treasure.
The 1894 tombola panel shows
an even earlier alliance of paint-
ers. The auction catalog noted,
“Such collaborations among art-
ists are virtually unheard of in
19th century American painting
circles.”
The panel sold on the floor to
an art collector from the Cincin-
nati area. Even though bidding
surpassed the conservative esti-
mate, the price was indicative of
much of the art market.
“The market for Cincinnati
paintings is soft,” said Sikes.
“At one time there were huge
collectors for Cincinnati art.
None of those were players. If
we had sold this ten years ago, it
could have brought a quarter of a
million dollars. Collectors have
all they want.”
Other regional art included
a Paul Sawyier (1865-1917)
watercolor,
Evening Light on
Station Camp, Estill County
, a
summer landscape with a tree-
lined waterway, signed, 11¾" x
20¾", that sold above estimate
for $9000. “The
Sawyier
did
very
well,”
said Sikes. “It
was found in
a drawer in one of the
pieces of Kentucky furniture we
sold, just loose in the drawer.”
Man with Pipe
by Birge Har-
rison (1854-1929), depicting a
man wearing wooden shoes and
sitting on a wheelbarrow, oil on
canvas, signed and inscribed
“Paris,” with some restoration,
sold just above the low estimate
at $10,800. “He’s an import-
ant artist, and that painting
had never come on the market
before,” Sikes noted.
One of the more captivating
works in the sale was an image
of a nude woman looking over
her left shoulder at her reflection
in a full-length mirror. The work
of Wilhelm Gallhof (German,
1878-1918), the painting sold
toward the low end of the esti-
mate, bringing $3240.
“That painting was the huge
disappointment for me,” said
Sikes. “There were like six peo-
ple on the phone for this painting.
I really thought that was going to
get up in the five figures. It just
petered out on the phone. Some-
body got an unbelievable buy…
In my opinion, that was the fin-
est painting in the sale.”
Two things added to the allure
of the work—the medium and
the scarcity. The painting was
done in oil, while much of Gall-
hof’s output consisted of draw-
ings. Futhermore, his production
was limited. As a young man,
Gallhof was killed in action
during World War I.
The session of Asian art was
the weak point of the sale. Six-
ty-five percent of the 98 lots
were passed. “Everybody was
riding that wave for so long,
and I think it’s starting to turn
around, and only the most amaz-
ing stuff is attracting attention
now,” said Sikes.
The best of the Asian mate-
rial was a set of seven blue
and white dishes, 6" in diam-
eter, 19th century, each with a
six-character archaic Daoguang
mark. The dishes soared above
the $1000/1500 estimate to sell
for $12,300.
English, European, and Rus-
sian material fared OK, but it was
the selection of American furni-
ture and accessories where the
sale was at its strongest, thanks
to several pieces of Americana.
The best of those items was a
carved spread-wing eagle with
a shield, gripping arrow shafts
and an olive branch in its talons.
Made of cherry and likely dating
to the third quarter of the 19th
century, the patriotic piece mea-
sured 32" high x 52¼" wide and
sold for $39,600. According to
the family, it had been removed
from a bank in northern Ohio.
Leah Vogelpohl, a specialist at
Cowan’s, said the size and style
of the carving were appropriate
Cowan’s Auctions, Cincinnati, Ohio
Fine and Decorative Arts Auction
by Don Johnson
Photos courtesy Cowan’s
“It is, in my
opinion, the
most rare, the
most important
thing I’ve ever
handled as far
as regional art
is concerned.”
Chinese court robe with nine gold
silk embroidered dragon decora-
tions, 1890s, 53" long, $3360.
E. Howard & Company no.
7 figure-eight banjo clock,
Boston, eight-day timepiece,
in a carved walnut case with
reverse-painted glass, painted
iron dial, marked, 50¾"
high x 16¾" wide, dial likely
repainted, $9000.
Anna Pottery pig flask in an Albany slip, Illinois, late 19th cen-
tury, incised “From/ John Gaubatz/ No 115 Christy Ave/ St. Louis,
Mo.,” also map markings, 7½" long, some glaze imperfections and
a glaze chip, $3120.
Cincinnati Art Club tombola panel, oil on wood artist’s palette, 1894,
11¼" x 15½" plus frame, excellent condition, $50,400.
Evening Light on Station Camp, Estill County
by Paul Sawyier (1865-
1917), watercolor on paper, signed, 11¾" x 20¾", light perimeter toning,
$9000.