Treadway-Toomey Galleries’ 20th Century Art & Design Auction Sets Record for Karl Schmidt Painting In a surprising twist, a Karl Schmidt triptych estimated at $6,000 to $8,000 stole the show when bidding escalated to achieve $120,000, a record price for this American painter’s work.
(est. $45,000-$55,000). An important collaborative example, the circa 1902 table was an early, arched apron form adorned with twelve tiles with an exceptional matte green glaze. Its most recent provenance was the private collection of Beth Cathers, as was an early Gustav Stickley sideboard that sold for $42,000, more than twice the estimated $15,000 to $20,000. Also circa 1902, the eight-leg form had four drawers with wood faceted knobs flanked by cabinets with copper strap hardware and oval pulls.
Scenic yet scarcely seen, a rare Grueby frieze comprised of six tiles painted with a panorama of pine trees in a pleasing palette of blues, greens and brown, brought $45,000 (est. $20,000-$30,000). The 49-inch wide landscape, which was reclaimed from the fireplace of a Chicago home, also included a series of original square mottled tiles in an arched design as the crowning touch.
In lighting, an unorthodox Gustav Stickley chandelier, which was crafted with a woven wicker shade, silk liner, and an amber leaded glass diffuser in the center, reached $21,600, double estimates of $8,000 to $10,000. An especially unusual Handel floor lamp with a landscape reverse painted in the shade brought $18,000 (est. $15,000-$25,000). Fashioned of bronzed metal, its base was shaped like four splayed peacock feathers. Similarly, a Max Le Verrier lamp with a bronzed metal base sculpted into four storks fetched $2,200, triple estimates of $500 to $700. Its petite, bouffant glass shade was a lovely lemony-yellow. One of the most imaginative works was also a best buy. The quirky Quezal chandelier showcased a bronzed metal fixture comprised of six human head sculptures with elongated necks radiating outward from the center. A cord dangled from each to hold a white glass shade with pulled green and gold feather designs. The fanciful piece fetched $6,600, below estimates of $8,000 to $11,000.
A Tiffany table lamp that featured a leaded glass shade with a leaf and vine motif and an uncommon telescoping base of reticulated bronze achieved $33,600 (est. $25,000-$35,000). Reminiscent of variegated Persian ivy, the shade’s design had heart-shaped leaves of pale green and creamy yellow. A Tiffany floor lamp with a bronze base and a large, leaded glass shade decorated with a Greek Key pattern sold for $60,000 (est. $50,000-$75,000). A voluptuous Wheatley lamp with a shapely, light green ceramic base, which supported an exquisite emerald Cincinnati Artistic Wrought Iron shade of rippled, leaded glass, sold for $3,600 (est. $2,500-$3,500).
Designs with daffodils and tulips fared well in this auction. Tulips had been popular since the late 1500s, but daffodils came into vogue for the very first time in the early 1900s, according to antique garden and bulb expert Scott Kunst.
“Daffodils were part of a reaction against Victorian ornamentalism and exoticism as exemplified in carpet-bedding,” Kunst explained. “People appreciated that daffodils seemed more like wildflowers. They fit in with the Arts and Crafts movement in architecture and interior design in the early 1900s.”
Finely incised and painted with perky daffodils, a rare Paul Revere vase in a
