Skinner

BOSTON, MA – September 11, 2018 – Skinner is pleased to announce September 25th as the date for our second Important Jewelry auction of the year. Collectors and buyers who wait in anticipation of this event will be pleased with the breadth and content of this auction, featuring over 400 lots of diamonds, colored stones, and antique and period jewelry.  Art Deco Jewelry Our Important Jewelry auction features several exceptional examples of Art Deco design from the 1920s and 1930s. The cover of our catalog is an impressive and rare diamond strap bracelet by Cartier (Lot 66, Estimate $100,000-$125,000). We are also pleased to offer a late 1930s ruby and diamond bracelet, also by Cartier (Lot 106, Estimate $30,000-$50,000).    Artist Designed Jewelry Since its founding in 1980, the Skinner jewelry department has had a special interest in jewelry designed by artists. Leading our collection of artist-designed jewelry in this […]

 The Hot Bid’s Sheila Gibson Stoodley recently spoke with Skinner Director of Asian Works of Art, Judith Dowling about the record-setting Chinese Vase sold by Skinner.    What you see: A monumental Fencai Imperial vase dating to the Qianlong period. Skinner sold it in 2014 for $24.7 million– a record for any Chinese work of art sold in the Western world.   The expert: Judith Dowling, Director of Asian Works of Art at Skinner.   Can you tell us what we know about how the vase came to be? Why might it have been made? The theory and I say theory because in China there are no actual documents, comes from observation of a vase in the Palace Museum in Beijing called the “mother of porcelain.” The Qianlong Emperor wanted a compilation of accomplishments the Chinese had made up to that point in porcelain. By repute, the superintendent [of the Imperial porcelain […]

Join us in these New England cities for a complimentary auction evaluation of jewelry, silver, coins & currency, American & European works of art, sculpture, and musical instruments and the opportunity to consign property to upcoming Skinner auctions. New Haven, CT | September 12, 2018 Providence RI | October 10, 2018 Portland ME | November 14, 2018 Chatham MA | December 12, 2018  Appointments by reservation only. To make an appointment, please email info@skinnerinc.com, or phone 508-970-3000.   

An Evening of Art & Anecdotes with Joby Baker Wednesday, September 19, 5:30PM Skinner welcomes Joby Baker, the widower of Dory Previn who will discuss Dory’s art collection, music, and poetry as we tour the gallery and view her works. This event is held in conjunction with a preview of Skinner’s September 21st auction of American & European Works of Art. Skinner Boston Gallery 63 Park Plaza Boston MA, 02116 Reception: 5:30pm Talk: 6pm RSVP Contact Us: events@skinnerinc.com 508-970-3240

BOSTON, MA – August 23, 2018 – On Friday, September 21, Skinner presents an outstanding two-session auction of Prints, Multiples & Photographs and Paintings & Sculpture with over 350 lots spanning Old Masters through contemporary offerings. Robin S. R. Starr, Vice President and Director of American & European Works of Art, notes, “We’re excited about the depth and breadth of the works in the September auction, from a rediscovered Gérôme masterpiece to a considerable number of fresh to the market works from private collections, including of the composer, lyricist, author, playwright, recording artist, and performer, Dory Previn.”  Paintings & Sculpture The marquee lot of the sale is by Jean-Léon G érôme. This newly rediscovered orientalist painting called Evening Prayer (Lot 266, Estimate: $400,000-600,000) has been described as a “perfected” version of one of Gérôme’s most evocative compositions, showing Muslim men at prayer on a Cairo rooftop. With all of the technical hallmarks […]

Skinner Jewelry specialists Kaitlin Shinnick and John Colasacco will be hosting a preview of Important Jewelry being offered in our September 25 Boston auction.  The September auction features over 400 lots of diamonds, colored stones, antique and period jewelry. Highlights include several exceptional examples of Art Deco design from the 1920s and 1930s, vintage and contemporary jewelry by prestigious makers Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Buccellati, David Webb, Jean Schlumberger and Aldo Cipullo. Also on offer, artist-designed jewelry by Arthur King, John Paul Miller, Art Smith, Etienne David, Eric De Kolb, Barbara Anton, Bent Gabrielsen, and Illario. Private preview times are available by appointment. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5  |  THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 REQUEST APPOINTMENT Skinner New York 415 Madison Avenue, #1418 New York, New York Contact us: jewelry@skinnerinc.com 617.874.4313  

Skinner’s September 21 Fine Photographs auction opens with two special groups (both vintage and later prints) of images by Eugène Atget and Berenice Abbott. Atget (1857-1927) is remembered for documenting historical aspects of the city of Paris as it was being transformed by modernization. His work inspired Abbott (1898-1991) to focus on the changing buildings and neighborhoods of the city in her project Changing New York. Atget and Abbott met in 1926, and developed a special bond. When he died the following year, she acquired his archive and for the rest of her life worked tirelessly to preserve his photographic legacy. Eugène Atget’s 30 year-career bridged the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 1890s, he photographed what he described as “Documents pour artistes”—streets, gardens, monuments, and architectural details like doorways and ironwork, etc. Beginning around 1900, as the urban landscape was being transformed by Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s modernization campaign, he […]

The antique and estate jewelry presented in the Fine Jewelry Collections online auction was lovingly assembled over more than four decades by George and Jackie Bernheimer.  Their interests were primarily in unusual colored stones, snake rings, and moonstones, especially those sculpted into cameos and intaglios.  The inspiration for collecting jewelry was initiated by gifts from George’s parents, Paul and Louise, who were best-known for their splendid Harvard Square gallery, Bernheimer’s Antique Arts (1963-1992); which was an off-shoot of the one of the most prominent art businesses in Europe, the renowned L. Bernheimer of Munich, Germany, founded in 1864.  George and his parents fled Nazi Germany in 1939 and eventually settled in Norton, Massachusetts.  While he was never directly involved with the Munich or Cambridge galleries, George eventually did find his way to partake in the family tradition, first by opening the Norton Flea Market with his partners in 1971, and […]

BOSTON, MA – September 11, 2018 – Skinner is pleased to announce September 25th as the date for our second Important Jewelry auction of the year. Collectors and buyers who wait in anticipation of this event will be pleased with the breadth and content of this auction, featuring over 400 lots of diamonds, colored stones, and antique and period jewelry.  Art Deco Jewelry Our Important Jewelry auction features several exceptional examples of Art Deco design from the 1920s and 1930s. The cover of our catalog is an impressive and rare diamond strap bracelet by Cartier (Lot 66, Estimate $100,000-$125,000). We are also pleased to offer a late 1930s ruby and diamond bracelet, also by Cartier (Lot 106, Estimate $30,000-$50,000).    Artist Designed Jewelry Since its founding in 1980, the Skinner jewelry department has had a special interest in jewelry designed by artists. Leading our collection of artist-designed jewelry in this […]

Popular in Korea, folding screens were created to decorate rooms and for use as a backdrop to enhance the festive mood for special events such as weddings, birthdays and holidays. Adorned with symbolic images with auspicious meaning folding screens have long been loved; and more recently become a study subject among art historians, who see them essential in understanding Korean art and culture of the late Joseon period. Skinner offers four Korean multi-panel folding screens from the 19th and 20th centuries in the September 14, 2018, Asian Works of Art auction in Boston.   Six-panel Gosainmuldo Folding Screen illustrates six legendary Chinese figures highly admired in Korea for their respectful conduct and dignity in leading a hermit life over the pursuit of worldly success and corrupt political careers. Perhaps for this reason, Gosainmuldo screens were popular among Korean literati, yearning to escape from political dilemmas and wishing for a sequestered life. […]

Skinner’s September 21, 2018, Fine Paintings & Sculpture Auction will include a selection of artwork from the collection of singer-songwriter Dory Previn. Previn was a composer, lyricist, author, playwright, recording artist, and performer. Her early successes came in Hollywood while working for MGM, where she wrote songs for films, usually as a lyricist teaming up with her then-husband, composer and conductor André Previn. They worked on soundtracks including one for the film version of Valley of the Dolls, the theme song of which was recorded by Dionne Warwick. Together they were nominated for two Academy Awards and wrote songs recorded by Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis Jr., Doris Day, Leontyne Price, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, and others. Ms. Previn gained a third Academy Award nomination for a collaboration with the composer Fred Karlin. Her lyrics for television garnered an Emmy Award and an Emmy nomination. By 1970, […]

 The Hot Bid’s Sheila Gibson Stoodley recently spoke with Skinner Director of Asian Works of Art, Judith Dowling about the record-setting Chinese Vase sold by Skinner.    What you see: A monumental Fencai Imperial vase dating to the Qianlong period. Skinner sold it in 2014 for $24.7 million– a record for any Chinese work of art sold in the Western world.   The expert: Judith Dowling, Director of Asian Works of Art at Skinner.   Can you tell us what we know about how the vase came to be? Why might it have been made? The theory and I say theory because in China there are no actual documents, comes from observation of a vase in the Palace Museum in Beijing called the “mother of porcelain.” The Qianlong Emperor wanted a compilation of accomplishments the Chinese had made up to that point in porcelain. By repute, the superintendent [of the Imperial porcelain […]