Maine Antique Digest, March 2017

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36-A Maine Antique Digest, March 2017
114 Dover Road, Chichester, NH 03258
603-798-3116 • 7 days/week, 10-4
os. Bartlett
Antiques &Oddments
Please Join Us As We Have Our First
SALE-A-BRATION of Spring - March 18-26
Seminar
April 10, 2017
e Magic of Fire: e Chinese Potter’s Palette
by Robert D. Mowry,
the Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
From 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at e Bruce Museum,
1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT
A Box Lunch of Contemporary Chinese Cuisine is provided
CCSC Members: $95; Nonmembers: $135;
Students and Members of other Ceramics Organizations: $110
Information:
Deep, Circular Charger with Peony Décor, Chinese from the kilns at Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, Ming dynasty,
early 15th century, probably Yongle period (1403–1424). Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Fragments continued from p. 13-A
Sotheby’s Learns of Fake, Refunds Buyer,
and Sues Consignor
Sotheby’s filed suit in January in U.S.
District Court in New York seeking
to recover money paid to Lionel de Saint
Donat-Pourrières of Luxembourg, who
consigned a painting that has turned out
to be a forgery.
The painting, Saint Jerome , was
attributed to the circle of Girolamo Fran-
cesco Maria Mazzola, known as Parmi-
gianino, an Italian old master who was
active in the 16th century. It was consigned
in May 2011. The consignment contract
provides that Sotheby’s can rescind the
sale if it learns that the painting “is inac-
curately described in the catalogue” or “is
a counterfeit (a modern forgery intended
to deceive),” or if Sotheby’s determines,
in its sole judgment, that the sale may
subject Sotheby’s to “any liability.”
Saint Jerome sold on January 26, 2012,
for $842,500, and Donat-Pourrières
received $672,000. The painting subse-
quently has been determined by Orion
Analytical, LLC (now a subsidiary of
Sotheby’s) and James Martin, a forensic
scientist and expert in art authentication, to
be a relatively recent forgery. Martin took
pigment samples from 21 different areas of
the painting; every one contained a modern
synthetic pigment, phthalocyanine green,
which was first used in paints nearly four
centuries after Parmigianino died.
Sotheby’s is refunding in full the
money it received from the buyer, but
Donat-Pourrières has refused to refund
the amount he received. Sotheby’s is
suing for breach of contract, claiming
damages in the amount Donat-Pourrières
received from the sale and related costs
and expenses.
Two Arrested in Art Theft
Anthony J. Larson, 30,
of Sarasota, Florida.
Two men have been arrested in
connection with an art theft that
occurred in December 2016 at Art
Avenue in Sarasota, Florida. Anthony
J. Larson, 30, of Sarasota, and Rex L.
Ballinger, 29, of Sarasota, were each
charged with grand theft. Larson was
recognized by a resident who called the
Sarasota Police Department; Ballinger
turned himself in to detectives after
seeing himself on the news. Both men
have since been bonded out of jail.
The two paintings stolen in Decem-
Rex L. Ballinger, 29,
of Sarasota, Florida.
ber, valued at approximately $7500, have
not been recovered. Detectives learned that
the paintings were discarded in the Sarasota
area after the crime was committed.
Brandy Culp, New Curator of American Decorative Arts at
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Brandy S. Culp has been
appointed to the position
of Richard Koopman Curator
of American Decorative Arts
at the Wadsworth Atheneum
Museum of Art in Hartford,
Connecticut. She will begin
work at the museum in late
February.
“Joining the team at Amer-
ica’s oldest continuously
operating art museum is
an opportunity one dreams
about as a curator,” said Culp. “The ath-
eneum’s collection of native decorative
arts is wildly charismatic, telling the
story of New England and America like
no other museum can do. With myriad
objects ranging from Colonial cabinetry
by Eliphalet Chapin to modern metal jew-
elry by none other than Alexander Calder,
I am eager to delve into the holdings to
renew the museum visitor’s interest in
this treasure-trove of unique pieces.”
Before this appointment, Culp served
as curator of Historic
Charleston Foundation,
Charleston, South Car-
olina. Before that, Culp
served as the Andrew W.
Mellon Curatorial Fellow
in the department of Amer-
ican art at the Art Institute
of Chicago. She has also
held curatorial positions
at the Bard Graduate Cen-
ter and the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York
City. Culp graduated summa cum laude
from Hollins University and received
her M.A. degree with an emphasis in
American decorative arts from the Bard
Graduate Center. There she completed
her thesis on the 18th-century Charleston
silversmith Alexander Petrie and the Car-
olina silver trade. The topic of metalwork
remains one of her greatest interests.
For more information, call (860) 278-
Appraisers Association of America Honors Jeffrey Deitch
The Appraisers Association of Amer-
ica will present art dealer and curator
Jeffrey Deitch with the 2017 Award for
Excellence in the Arts at the 13th annual
award luncheon on Wednesday, April 19,
at the New York Athletic Club in New
York City. Introductory remarks will be
made by artist Jeff Koons.
Luncheon attendees will include artists,
dealers, auction house specialists, attor-
neys, art insurance professionals, collec-
tors, appraisers, conservators, curators, art
advisors, museum directors, and nonprofit
arts professionals, among others. Guests
are invited to attend a networking reception
followed by a sit-down lunch, remarks,
presentations, and a raffle of artworks.
Deitch has been involved with modern
and contemporary art for more than 40
years as an artist, writer, curator, dealer,
and advisor. He began his career as assis-
tant director of the John Weber Gallery
in New York City and as curator of the
deCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massa-
chusetts, before going to on to receive his
M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in
1978. Before opening his own art advisory
firm in 1988, Deitch was a vice president
of Citibank, where he helped develop
and manage the bank’s art advisory and
art finance businesses. Best known for
his vanguard enterprise on Grand Street,
Deitch Projects, Deitch produced more
than 250 projects by contemporary art-
ists during the gallery’s operations, from
1996 through 2010. In 2014 Rizzoli pub-
lished Live the Art, a monograph detail-
ing the celebrated history of Deitch Proj-
ects. Deitch was director of the Museum
of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles from
2010 to 2013. He then returned to New
York to resume his active art advisory and
curatorial practice.
For further information, visit the web-
site ) or
call (212) 889-5404.