News-Antique.com - Aug 23,2009 - Some very special paintings will be auctioned without any price reserve (!). Among them: "Bowlers before an inn" signed by David Teniers II. On oak panel it can be compared to the version from the collection of the Princes of Aremberg, sold at Christie's a few years ago for £200,000. "At the notary's". Oil on canvas by the renowned anecdotic genre painter Gerard Portielje. There are three figures in this composition: the solicitor and the client with his daughter. Important enough to mention as Portielje in his day was paid per person in the picture... "Ugolin and his children" signed by Julien De Stoop and dated 1858. This painting is by a rather unknown artist from Bruges. The canvas we auction is probably his masterpiece, destined to partake at the Salon d'Anvers of that year, it's a perfect example of the Romantic School of that period.
“An extensive landscape in the Flemish Ardennes”. by Gies Cosyns (1920-1997). Cosyns, a former mayor of the village of Kwaremont (cyclists will know) is often compared to Valerius De Saedeleer and with reason. One of the charming farm interiors by Jakob Smits, composed around a central window. This one with two women having coffee.
And numerous important works by artists like J. Creytens, Th. Gérard, G.E. Guffens, F. Hens, G. Noelanders, R. Steppe, L. Thévenet, A. Van Beurden, Ch. van der Lamen, P. Verdussen, A. Vereecke and many others.
A remarkable list of very good painters and for some reason my special sympathy goes out to the Fishing Boats in the port of Ostend, by Alphonse Van Beurden Jr and the Very large and luminous vase of flowers by Julien Creytens, two icons of the Antwerp Interbellum, represented at this auction with several canvasses and in my humble opinion underestimated on the actual art market.
Apart from paintings and next to wood carvings and terra cottas we’ll find some very fine bronzes by Adolphe Lavergne, Adrien Gaudez, Eutrope Bouret, Edouard Drouot, Mathurin Moreau, Jozef Cantré and others.
A second important part of the auction is occupied by over 60 lots of massive silver items from the XIXth and XXth century. Candelabra, services, cutlery, theesets etc. with maker’s marks and hallmarks like Wolfers, Delheid, Vollgold, London, Birmingham, Chester, Sheffield, Portugal, Spain, India...
There’s very good porcelain, earthenware, glass, crystal, drawings and etchings, rugs and furniture, post cards, books and comics etc. We should leave it all unmentioned but it would lead us too far. Let’s finish emphasizing on the large quantity of very fine golden jewelry, by order of the Ministry of Finances, sold without any price reserve, most of them set with diamonds and valuable colored stones. A reassuring way out for those of us who could hang on to a handful of money in these weary times.
It’s an extra joy, of course, that Jordaens feasts its tenth year in Mortsel with this beautiful auction. We’ll have to find something to match next year when our auction house will exist for twenty years.
