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26-A Maine Antique Digest, April 2017
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AUCTION -
36-D
Bill Traylor (1854-1949),
Construction
with Man Smoking
, tempera on found
poster board, 13" x 7¾", painted between
1939 and 1942, sold for $93,750 (est.
$60,000/80,000) to collectors in the
salesroom, the underbidders on the pair of
Hathaway portraits. It was the last lot in
the sale.
William Matthew Prior (1806-1873), double
portrait of a blonde-haired boy seated in a rocker
holding a whip, a girl in a red dress with eyelet
pantaloons and red shoes, and a black dachshund,
oil on canvas, 36" x 28", circa 1845, sold for
$68,750 (est. $70,000/100,000) on the phone to
dealer David Wheatcroft for a client.
Molded copper fox weathervane, L.W. Cushing & Sons, Waltham,
Massachusetts, circa 1892, hollow-bodied fox in full run, with a
verdigris surface and traces of original gilt on the belly, 12" high
x 21¾" wide, sold online for $43,750 (est. $8000/12,000).
Chippendale carved and figured mahogany
slant-front desk, attributed to John or Jonathan Townsend,
Newport, Rhode Island, circa 1770, with indistinct chalk
inscription to the underside of the third long drawer, 42" high x 43¾" wide x 23"
deep, sold on the phone for $37,500 (est. $40,000/60,000). It is similar to a desk made
by John Townsend for his daughter Mary Townsend Brinley that is in the Newport
Restoration Foundation collection and is illustrated in Morrison Heckscher’s 2005
catalog for his John Townsend exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The
shell carved on the prospect drawer is typical of John Townsend’s work. A related
desk sold for $264,000 at Sotheby’s sale of the Laracy collection in 2007.
Chippendale mahogany blockfront slant-front desk,
probably Salem, Massachusetts, circa 1770, appearing
to retain its original cast brass hardware, 43" high
x 41¼" wide x 23½" deep, with a John Walton
provenance, sold for $35,000 (est. $15,000/25,000).
Rare carved mahogany “War of 1812” cake board,
New York, circa 1830, marked “M. Hall” and
initialed “H.P.,” 12" x 12", sold for $4000 (est.
$3000/5000). It has sold a number of times at auction.
At the sale for Stanley Sax at Sotheby’s in January
1998, it sold for $2990. Owned by John and Peggy
Schorsch and by Peter Tillou, it sold again at Sotheby’s
at the Zoler sale in 2005 for $7800 and then at
Christie’s in January 2007 for $9600. It is carved with
the facing profiles of naval officers Captains Isaac Hull
and Oliver Hazard Perry flanked by the initials “H”
and “P” over a star and two cornucopias over a U.S.
naval ship. Hull and Perry won decisive naval battles
during the War of 1812.
The Lucas family Classical ormolu George
Washington shelf clock, made for the American
market by Jean-Baptiste Dubuc (1743-1817),
Paris, circa 1815, dial inscribed “Dubuc / Rue
Michel-le-Comte No.33 / A. Paris,” inscription
below the face reading “WASHINGTON /
First in WAR, First in PEACE, First in the
HEARTS of his COUNTRYMEN,” 19½" high
x 14½" wide x 6" deep, sold for $87,500 (est.
$80,000/120,000). It had never been out of the
Lucas family of Baltimore, Maryland.
This molded copper Goddess of
Liberty with flag weathervane in gilt
and paint is possibly by J.L. Mott
Iron Works, New York, circa 1880.
The hollow-bodied figure with one
outstretched arm, the other hand holding
a red-, white-, and blue-painted American
flag, 36" high x 25" wide x 4" deep, with
an Edmund Fuller and Steve Miller
provenance, had been advertised in a
1995 fall antiques show advertisement
in
Folk Art
magazine. It sold for
$125,000 (est. $100,000/150,000)
to Roberto Freitas for a client.
A similar example with its
directional is in the Jane and
Gerald Katcher collection
at Yale.