EUROPEAN FURNITURE & DECORATIVE ARTS
TO BE OFFERED AT SKINNER
Featuring Fine Ceramics, Including the Coil Collection of Ceramics
BOSTON, Mass. - June 20, 2006
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www.skinnerinc.com - Skinner Boston will hold an auction of European furniture and decorative arts on Saturday, July 15, 2006, beginning at 10 a.m. Once again, this annual summer event will feature Fine Ceramics, as well as a broad and varied selection of 18th, 19th, and 20th century offerings in furniture and decorations.
Ceramics
The highlight of the ceramics portion of the sale is the Coil collection of ceramics, a major southern California collection of 18th and early 19th century English toby jugs, and 16th to 19th century German stoneware and faience tankards and krugs.
Collectors of toby jugs will find over 140 examples, most dating to the 18th and early 19th century, including many attributed to R.Wood, Pratt and the Yorkshire potteries. Of particular interest are several depicting the Thin Man, Martha Gunn, Sharp Face, Postillion, Lord Howe, Hearty Good Fellow, Dr. Johnson, Gin Lady, Game Keeper, Sailor, Barrister and Squire.
Tankards and krugs number well over 175 in all, and are mostly of German origin. The stoneware features fine early examples attributed to Altenberg, Annaberg, Bayreuth, Westerwald, Raeren, Frechen, Kreussen, Muskau, Siegburg and Rhenish-type wares. The faience is highlighted by pieces attributed to Erfurt, Frankfurt, Crailsheim, Hannoversch-Munden, Magdeburg, Bayreuth-Pfeiffer, Proskau, Nuremburg, Thuringian-type, Oettingen-Schrattenhofen, and Hanau. Also included in this collection are several fine 18th century Meissen porcelain, serpentine, and English stoneware tankards.
Leading offerings will include a Kreussen pewter-mounted Apostle tankard, c. 1660, with an inscribed German verse to the footrim which, literally translated, states, "Who drinks all of me at any time may be blessed by the Holy Trinity" (lot 575, $5/7,000). Also featured are an octagonal shaped Staffordshire solid agate tankard, c. 1760 (lot 335, $2/4,000), a polychrome decorated German Erfurt-type figural tin glazed earthenware tankard, c. 1740 (lot 372, $1,5/2,500), and an 18th century Staffordshire translucent lead glazed toby jug (lot 328, $1/1,500). Additional highlights include a Meissen porcelain armorial Hausmalerei tankard, c. 1735, probably decorated by F. F. Mayer von Pressnitz (lot 580, $2/4,000).
Wedgwood will also be well represented with fine examples including fairyland lustre, black basalt and jasper wares. Additionally, Doulton, Moorcroft, Royal Worcester, fine Copeland and R & L parian wares, George Jones pat-sur-pate and a variety of Staffordshire potteries will be among the offerings. Items of particular note include a pair of black basalt wine and water ewers (lot 34, $1,5/2,000), a vestal lamp (lot 40, $8/1,200), and a pair of Wedgwood & Bentley vases (lot 55, $1,5/2,500). Jasper includes a large three-color plaque (lot 31, $1,2/1,800), a pair of ormolu mounted three-color vases and covers (lot 132, $1,2/1,800), a three-color diceware coffee can and saucer (lot 133, $1/1,500), a full size dark blue Portland vase (lot 111, $1,5/2,500), and several crimson items. Rounding out this portion is a fine fairyland lustre vase with depictions of the Fairy Slide and Bird's Nest Robbers (lot 143, $2/4,000). Inquiries on the July sale's ceramics should be directed to Stuart Slavid at 978-779-6241 x306 or sslavid@skinnerinc.com. Other sales of interest to Wedgwood collectors include Skinner's July 13 Discovery Sale (Bolton gallery), which includes over 300 lots of Wedgwood of all varieties, featuring part of the Edwin S. Klein Collection. On September 7, Skinner's Discovery Sale (Bolton gallery) offers over 500 lots of Wedgwood, also featuring part of the Edwin S. Klein Collection. The auction of Fine Ceramics on September 9 (Skinner's Boston gallery) features both the Zeitlin and Klein Collections.
Decorative Arts
The auction offers a rich assortment of decorative arts, including a group of Russian icons and Russian objects of vertu. Examples include a painted porcelain plaque depicting a military review at Anichkov Palace, after Ladurner, bearing a signature in Cyrillic and a date of 1846 (lot 944, $15/20,000), and a beautifully cast Cossack bronze (lot 676, $3/5,000). Icons feature a four-paneled piece depicting saints at various pursuits (lot 941, $5/700), and one of two female saints (lot 939, $7/900), among others. Also of interest is a monumental German painted bisque wine ewer bearing a motto which reads, in part, "Who loves not woman, wine and song, remains a fool his whole life long" (lot 890, $10/12,000).
Additional selections include a highly collectible Waterford crystal chess set (lot 717, $3/5,000), a very decorative 18th century Flemish chinoiserie wool tapestry fragment (lot 733, $3/5,000), and a gilt metal and glass cased cordial set (lot 668, $1/1,500). A fine quality lead garden/lamppost figure of Cupid (lot 927, $3/5,000) also will be offered, as well as the usual excellent selection of clocks and timepieces, glassware, painted plaques, and European porcelains.
A fine group of bronzes features a wide variety of subjects, including a round bronze Pony Express wall plaque (lot 837, $2/3,000), an Andriano Ceciani bronze depicting the pathos of a child holding an unruly rooster (lot 798, $3/5,000), and a large bronze figure of a wounded mountain lion by Charles Valton (lot 923, $2/4,000), among others. A collection of Viennese miniature cold painted figures includes a Bergmann "naughty" bronze figure of a Moorish tradesman standing on a carpet with a maiden, the maiden's robe opening to reveal her naked body (lot 652, $1,2/1,800), and an interesting figural timepiece formed as a mirrored Moorish arch with a seated maiden, marked Thuss, likely a maker for Bergmann (lot 740, $3/5,000). Several lots of dog and other bronze animal figures also highlight the sale.
Furniture
Furniture in the sale offers selections in a wide range of tastes and styles, ranging from a Charles II oak chest of drawers (lot 246, $2/3,000), to Georgian pieces including a George III mahogany side table (lot 110, $6/12,000), a George III inlaid mahogany diminutive sideboard (lot 184, $4/6,000), and a Georgian japanned tall case clock, decorated all over with chinoiserie scenes on a faux tortoiseshell ground, the works signed George Sims, Canterbury (lot 837, $4/6,000). Also featured are a William and Mary inlaid walnut fall-front desk (lot 72, $5/7,000), and William IV selections including a mahogany folio stand (lot 6, $8/1,200) and a pair of mahogany open bookcases (lot 14, $8/1,200). An Italian Neoclassical painted and parcel-gilt sofa (lot 326, $4/6,000), a Regency gilt-stenciled and part-ebonized recamier (lot 192, $1,2/1,800), and a 19th century Louis XV style carved beechwood canapé (lot 516, $1/1,500) round out the diverse offerings.
Previews and Catalogue Information
Previews for the auction will be 12 to 5 p.m. Thursday, July 13th, and 12 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 14th. There is no preview the day of the auction. Illustrated catalog #2326 is available by mail for $32 ($39 for foreign requests) from the subscription department at 978-779-6241 x240. It is also available at the gallery for $29. Prices realized will be available at www.skinnerinc.com during and after the sale. For more information, call 978-779-6241, or visit www.skinnerinc.com. Skinner's site also allows users to view all lots in the auctions, leave bids, and order catalogues online.
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About Skinner
Skinner, Inc. is one of the nation's leading auction houses for antiques and fine art and the only major auction house headquartered in New England. With expertise in over 20 specialty collecting areas, Skinner draws the interest of buyers from all over the world and its auctions regularly achieve world record prices. Skinner provides a broad range of auction and appraisal services, and it is widely regarded as one of the most trusted names in the auction business. Skinner's appraisal experts regularly appear on the PBS-TV series, Antiques Roadshow, and its specialty departments include American Furniture & Decorative Arts, Paintings & Prints, English & Continental Furniture & Decorations, Fine Ceramics, Jewelry, Couture, 20th Century Furniture & Decorative Arts, Fine Musical Instruments, Asian Art, Fine Judaica, Toys, Dolls & Collectibles, Science & Technology, Oriental Rugs & Carpets, American Indian & Ethnographic Art, and Discovery. Skinner galleries are located in Boston and Bolton, Mass. For more information on upcoming auctions and events, visit Skinner's web site
www.skinnerinc.com.
