SKINNER AUCTIONS EUROPEAN FURNITURE, DECORATIVE ARTS, & FINE SILVER APRIL 11TH IN BOSTON Skinner, one of the nation’s leading auction houses, will hold a sale of European Furniture & Decorative Arts featuring Fine Silver on Saturday, April 11th at 10 a.m. in its Boston gallery located at
News-Antique.com - Mar 20,2009 - Fine Silver
Sale 2452 features more than 350 lots of fine silver from the early 18th to 20th centuries of British, Continental, Russian and American origin. Highlighted is a group of Georg Jensen silver including a pair of two-light candelabra, design no. 324 (lot 711, est. $4/6,000); an “Acanthus” pattern flatware service (lot 713, est. $2/4,000); a tall compote decorated with grapes, design no. 264A (lot 719, est. $6/8,000); and a four piece tea and coffee service, design no. 80 (lot 724, est. $2/4,000).
Also of note is a group of Arts & Crafts sterling, highlighted by several Tiffany & Co. “Special Hand Work” pieces including a fruit bowl (lot 903, est. $3/5,000) and a bread tray (lot 906, est. $1,2/1,800). Other Tiffany offerings consist of flatware services in two of their most opulent patterns, “Chrysanthemum” (lot 826, est. $6/8,000) and “Olympian” (lot 883, est. $8/12,000), as well as a charming boxed child’s set, decorated with cut-card work of a menagerie of animals (lot 877, est. $1,2/1,800) and an impressive seven piece repoussé tea and coffee set (lot 814, est. $5/7,000).
British silver offerings are regally represented by an impressive pair of George III silver convertible candelabra, made in London in 1807 by William Burwash and Richard Sibley, (lot 627, est. $15/25,000). Of interest to Anglophiles with a more modest budget, there is a small Victorian silver royal presentation cup (lot 649, est. $8/1,200) given by Prince Albert to one of his godsons.
Furniture
The strong selection of furniture includes European and American items from the late 17th through the 20th centuries. One of the most interesting and unusual items is an early Victorian mahogany metamorphic "Jupe" dining table (lot 433, est. $35/45,000), c. 1840-50, with central brass makers’ medallion stamped "Johnstone, Jeanes & Co., 67 New Bond Street, London." Tables of this design, named after the inventor of the original design in the early 19th century, Robert Jupe, are painstakingly crafted with expanding pie-shaped wedges. The original design was a technical innovation, allowing for ease and flexibility of use. Period tables of this design, especially those with maker’s labels, are rare in the auction market.
Other furniture highlights include an elegant Edwardian bureau/bookcase (lot 6, est. $5/7,000); a Portuguese Rococo fruitwood chest of drawers from the third quarter of the 18th century (lot 411, est. $1,5/2,500); a French Empire-style dining room set (lot 214, est. $10/12,000); a very large Regency giltwood convex mirror (lot 410, est. $15/20,000); and a William & Mary chest of drawers, c. 1700, (lot 185, est. $7/9,000).
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Decorative Arts
Gracing the sale is an eclectic selection of ceramics, statuary, clocks, and metal and glassware. Featured items include two very fine carved agate cameos, both ex-collection Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. One depicts the profile busts of Hera and Zeus (lot 295, est. $1/1,500), and the other the profile of Athena (lot 306, est. $1/1,500). Other highlights include an Art Deco bronze figural group by Ferdinand Liebermann (lot 75, est. $1,8/2,200); a Meissen pate-sur-pate vase
