iGavel Auctions

Louis XV Ormolu-Mouted Marquetry Marble Top Commode, French, mid-18th C.

Sold by: Nye & Company

Price Realized
$ 16,800

Pair of Charles X Gilt-Bronze Sixteen-Light Torcheres, French, 19th C.

Sold by: Nye & Company

Price Realized
$ 16,200

Extremely Rare Walnut Cheese Dish With Steel Scimitar, English, 18th C.

Sold by: Nye & Company

Price Realized
$ 14,400

Chinese Baluster Shaped Blue & White Porcelain Vase

Sold by: Litchfield County Auctions

Price Realized
$ 13,320

Other notable lots include:

Oil on Canvas, “In His Father’s Footsteps,” Samuel Edmund Waller (English, 1850-1903)
$ 12,000

Comb-Back Black Painted Windsor Armchair, Pennsylvania, late 18th/19th C.
$ 10,320

Tiffany & Company 14K Yellow Gold Tourmaline and Enamel Brooch, 20th C.
$ 10,262

Pair of Chinese Porcelain Vases, 20th C.
$ 6,900

Oil on Canvas, “Noon Day Rest,” Edward Moran (American, 1829-1901)
$ 6,000

Sale Highlights | Witherell’s Spring Auction

Ihsan Tunca — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:34:10 +0000

iGavel Auctions is proud to present Witherell’s Spring Auction. The auction features nearly three hundred unreserved lots from estates and various owners in California and the American West, including property from a California Museum, the family of Herbert Hoover, and the estate of Dr. Jeanne Goode. The sale is now live through May 7th. Below are some of the highlights from the sale:

The sale includes a Western painting by Maynard Dixon, which was executed in 1922 while he was traveling in Arizona. The dramatic cloud formations that his trip inspired became a signature aspect of the artist’s later works. The painting has descended through multiple generations of a prominent Northern California family. This painting is now available for bidding and estimated at $30,000-50,000. Click here to bid

Another highlight from the sale is a stained glass “Daffodil” Tiffany Studios table lamp. It is one of three Tiffany lamps from a local collection offered in the sale. The lamp bears a bronze base with sculpted and applied organic forms supporting a leaded glass shade in the daffodil pattern. This lamp is estimated at $30,000-40,000 and available for bidding now. Click here to bid

The sale also features a 20th Century Men’s Gold Rolex President Watch. This day-date watch is made out of 18k yellow gold and decorated with aftermarket diamonds around its bezel with gold linen used to dress the face of the watch. This watch is estimated at $5,000-7,000 and available for bidding now. Click here to bid

QUALITIES | CHINESE JADE

Ihsan Tunca — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:59:01 +0000

Qualities is a part of our efforts to celebrate our Asian, Ancient and Ethnographic Works of Art auction. SOME OF The items highlighted in the posts will be available for bidding during the auction.

Chinese Jade

Carved stone cylinder seals were used extensively in the Mesopotamian area beginning
around 3500 BCE as a means of recording ownership of property or establishing authorship for documents on clay tablets. These seals would be decorated with mythological figures or other devices which would be unique to the owner. Carved from agate, rock crystal, lapis or other materials, the cylinder seal was the precursor to the signet ring and other types of carved small stone articles commonly found in many Asian cultures.

The most popular of these stones and that most often associated with Asia is jade. There are two types of stone which are commercially referred to as jade: nephrite and jadeite. Nephrite is the more often found material, usually in dark green, white, pale green, brown and occasionally yellow. It is an extremely hard stone, registering 5.5 to 6.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, and cannot be scratched by steel. Jadeite has a more granular texture and appears in bright emerald and other shades of green, lavender, black, brown and white. The most valuable stones are emerald green and very translucent. Jadeite was not used as a material for carving in China before the 18th century and most examples date from the late 19th or 20th centuries. Other stones and materials used in small carved articles ale coral, agate, amber and rock crystal.

The above excerpt was taken from “Asian Art” (2002) by Lark E. Mason

CHINESE DARK GREEN JADE SEAL WITH IMPERIAL BILINGUAL INSCRIPTION, 20TH CENTURY

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PAIR OF CHINESE PALE CELADON JADE MUGHAL STYLE CHRYSANTHEMUM DISHES, 20TH CENTURY

Click Here to See All Pre-Columbian/Tribal/Ethnographic Lots in the Asian, Ancient, and Ethnographic Works of Art Auction

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TEXTURES OF CHINESE ART: CHINESE ENAMEL DECORATED PORCELAIN PEACH VASE 18TH CENTURY

Pat DePuydt — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:01:41 +0000

This rare porcelain vase is painted in underglaze blue with a peach tree growing out of rockery. The peaches appearing on the shoulder and growing on the tree are painted in peachbloom, which presents a very unusual effect in combination with the underglaze blue. This vase was part of the Yamanaka and Comapny Collection of Chinese and Other far Eastern Art Auction in 1943.

Chinese Enamel Decorated Porcelain Peach Vase, 18th Century

Online Auction:
April 17th – May 1st, 2013

The Story Within the Story: African Art and The Men Who Collect It

John Buxton — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:42:58 +0000

John Buxton has appeared as an expert on Tribal art on PBS Antiques Roadshow since its inception 17 years ago. ArtTrak, his gallery, is currently offering Tribal Art and Folk Art in the Asian, Ancient, and Ethnographic Works of Art Auction.

On Antiques Roadshow, we look forward to seeing objects that are not only interesting but have their own story. Encountering passionate collectors in the cities we stop in, the stories of the collections (and the collectors themselves) often provide insight into why we love antiques in the first place.

Bembe Figure

In the current Asian, Ancient, and Ethnographic Auction, there is a Bembe figure that was acquired and sold by Everett Rassiga when he owned the Black Tulip in Dallas, Texas. Rassiga, something of an Indiana Jones figure, was exposed to Pre-Columbian art during trips to Latin American countries as a Pan American pilot. In the 1950’s and 60’s, the parties held in his 3-story brownstone in New York were wild, even by today’s standards, and it seems plausible that the people he influenced to collect did so just to be a part of this charismatic man’s life.

Everett Rassiga

Rassiga had an impeccable eye and a thirst for adventure. In 1968, Rassiga used a helicopter to lift part of the polychrome stucco façade of a temple at Campeche and then shipped it to New York. When he offered it to Thomas Hoving at the Metropolitan Museum, Hoving alerted the Mexican authorities, who told him to return the façade or have his house in Cuernavaca seized. Rassiga chose the house, and the façade is now in the Maya hall in the museum in Mexico City. Though a bit of a rogue, Rassiga was a genius that could see and understand art better than most competitors and clients.

Jay Last

The Walwa mask was previously owned by Jay Last, a quiet, unassuming man who lives in a modest home in what is now Beverly Hills. Last, who received his PhD in Physics from MIT in 1956, was one of 8 founders of Silicon Valley, and made his money in the emerging market in computer chips. Recruited by William Shockley, who won the 1956 Nobel Prize for his role in the invention of the transistor.

Walwa Mask

A prolific collector of African art, Last is regarded as one of the foremost experts in the art of the Lega from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Last has been a major supporter of the Fowler Museum of Art on the UCLA campus and the Huntington Library in San Marino California, which houses his extensive lithography collection. Jay Last is a genius that values philanthropy as much as what he has accomplished in his professional life. When I look at the Walwa, I strive to understand what Jay sees and feels in this tough and powerful work of art.

QUALITIES | CHINESE ENAMELS

Ihsan Tunca — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:35:27 +0000

Qualities is a part of our efforts to celebrate our Asian, Ancient and Ethnographic Works of Art auction. SOME OF The items highlighted in the posts will be available for bidding during the auction.

Chinese Enamels

Some of the principal colours used in Chinese cloisonné enamelwork are red, green, white, yellow, dark and bright blue. Although enamelled metal articles date from ancient times in China, the first cloisonné objects date from the 15th century. Cloisonné enamel dating from the Ming dynasty typically is decorated with repeating foliate patterns, mythical animals and occasionally landscape scenes. Forms and designs follow those found on ceramics of the same period.

Cloisonné Enamels

Cloisonné was probably introduced into China by the Mongols. Byzantine enamels were widely admired in Central Asia and probably provided the inspiration for Chinese cloisonné. Ming decoration usually incorporates dragons, lotus scrolls, leafy vines, landscapes and flowers. Most Ming cloisonné enamels are unmarked but Jingtai marked examples (1450-1457) are an exception. The Jingtai mark is usually honorific and objects with it usually date from later periods.

During the Qianlong period cloisonné techniques became increasingly sophisticated with finely drawn patterns of delicate inlays. The patterns lack the robustness and vitality of the early Ming example but reach a new standard in technical execution. Typical vessels include sets of censers , candle ticks and vases made as garnitures for temples and vessels which are inspired by ancient bronze form. These piece are often accentuated with gilded bronze surfaces. The repertoire of shapes include small models of animals, myth Ological creatures and large vases and other vessels. Cloisonné continued to be made in large quantities during the 19th and 20th centuries, but much of this output recapitulates earlier forms and, possibly due to the larger quantities manufactured, often has a lifeless, stiff appearance.

The above excerpt was taken from “Asian Art” (2002) by Lark E. Mason

LARGE CHINESE CLOISONNÉ TRIPOD LOTUS CENSER, MING DYNASTY

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Sale Highlights | Emerging Photographers’ Auction

Ihsan Tunca — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:21:26 +0000

Below is a gallery of photographs featured in this auction. Included in the each lot is a short bio of the respective artist.

Xi Sinsong, Untitled, 2012

Trey Wright, Scott, 2013

Tobias Hutzler, July 4th, New York, 2012

Ilona Szwarc, Casey, Amarillo, Texas, 2012

Steve Davis, Basketball Court, Remann Hall, 2002

Ryan Shorosky, Being in New Mexico, 2013

Ryan Arthurs, Hose Down, 2012,

Rebekah Schmidt Rocha, Firesky, 2008

Kathleen Robbins, Charlie in the Mill Pond, 2012