Frank Duveneck Portrait Leads Cowan's Winter Fine and Decorative Art Auction On February 5, 2011, Cowan’s will host its Winter Fine and Decorative Art Auction, featuring a wonderful collection of furniture, paintings, sculpture, and folk art from the 15th to the 20th centuries
News-Antique.com - Jan 12,2011 - CINCINNATI – On February 5, 2011, Cowan’s will host its Winter Fine and Decorative Art Auction, featuring a wonderful collection of furniture, paintings, sculpture, and folk art from the 15th to the 20th centuries. The 347-lot auction will be held in Cincinnati at Cowan’s auction salesroom and promises to be an exciting event for all. A fresh-to-the-market portrait by Frank Duveneck, a well known locally born artist, will cross Cowan's auction block, leading the charge of this auction's regionalist works. Other highlights in the sale include a Rare French “Rolling Ball, Constant Force” Clock, and an exceptional 15th Century Polychrome Virgin and Child.
A Portrait of a Girl by Frank Duveneck is estimated to bring $10,000/15,000. Duveneck, born in Covington, Kentucky, was an American figure and portrait painter. At age 21, he went to study at the Royal Academy of Munich and was well known for his dark, realistic style of painting. This particular portrait comes from the collection of Mary Johnston and has descended in the family to the present owner.
Cowan’s will also be offering a French “Rolling Ball, Constant Force” Clock estimated to sell for $10,000/15,000. Circa 1900, the clock is made with a singing bird and is very similar to one exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exhibition Universale Base. Made for a very few years, these impressive and rare clocks used a series of gravity-driven balls to control the escapement, resulting in improved timekeeping.
An illustration by Frank Schoonover, Oil on Canvas, is estimated at $20,000/30,000. Schoonover, an American illustrator, frequently painted images meant to accompany magazines, books, and other literature. This particular image appeared alongside W. Somerset Maugham’s short story, “Macintosh: A Story of the South Sea”, in an issue of The Cosmopolitan, dated November 1920.
A rare Chinese Rock Crystal is expected to sell for $8,000/12,000. Dated 1934, this large rock crystal bottle has back-painted scenes by artist Chang Jianxin. One side depicts the caravan of a Tang Dynasty princess and her entourage with a mountainous background. The other side titled, “Six Gentlemen in the Pine Forest” depicts six scholars in a forest landscape, thick with conifers.
A 15th century Polychome Carved Virgin and Child has an estimate of $25,000/35,000. Like most late medieval German wood sculpture, this remarkably well-preserved and charming Virgin and Child is carved from linden wood. It appears to have retained a great deal of its original polychromy and gilding, including the flesh tones of the Child and the Virgin’s hands and face and the gold of her mantle and crown.
A beautiful Oil on Canvas, titled Grand Canal by Felix Ziem is estimated to bring anywhere from $20,000/30,000. This painting is dated to 1896, near the end of Ziem’s life and is still housed in its outstanding original gilt and gesso frame.
A Swiss Chronograph 18 Karat Gold Pocket Watch is expected to sell for $6,000/8,000.
A Beach Scene with Figures attributed to William R. Flint is estimated to bring $10,000/15,000.
Director of Paintings and Prints, Graydon Sikes notes,
