Rare Newcomb pottery, 17 Picasso sketches in Coker's March 10 auction Rare Newcomb pottery, 17 Picasso sketches, and early Asian bronzes headline John Coker’s March 10 Global Arts Auction.
News-Antique.com - Mar 08,2012 - NEW MARKET, Tenn. – “This is certainly not your usual mix of antiques and art,” said auctioneer John W. Coker, describing the 493-lot selection of Asian, European and American pieces in his March 10 Global Arts Auction. “The way it has all come together, there’s quite an international flavor to the event.”
The Asian section of the sale features four very early Mandarin Chinese bronzes from the estate of Chesterfield Raines, a Cincinnati collector whose job was to appraise properties prior to the construction of the I-75 freeway in Ohio. “That’s how he got into the houses and was able to acquire so many fine antiques,” said Coker. The bronzes are pre-1850 and depict animals in confrontational or attack situations. Additionally, there is a large lion bronze that was surmounted on a marble base to create a lamp.
According to Coker, Raines favored “showy, unusual items.” Among his choices were a beveled mirror adorned by a Black Forest carving of a dog – later adapted for use as a hat rack; a 20-inch etched-glass Lalique-style vase repurposed as a lamp, and a sizable KPM porcelain plaque of a Dutch Masters scene of a woman dining next to a window. A painting from the Raines collection is dated 1907 and depicts a valley as seen from a higher elevation.
“This painting by John Franklin Earhart (1853-1938) is scenic and historically significant. It is almost certainly a landscape view of somewhere in Ohio or northern Kentucky. It’s not a place you can pinpoint exactly because the painting was done before the area had paved roads, telephone poles or other signs of modern technology,” said Coker.
Also from the Raines collection, a papier-mache or lacquerware covered pillbox of Continental or English origin features the image of a leaping dog on its lid. An old note tucked inside says it is “European from the 1670s.”
An exotic entry, a marble and oak 3-piece bedroom suite seems to borrow influence from both the Aesthetic and Arts & Crafts movements. The bed, dresser and washstand are trimmed in copper on their sides. “I’ve never seen another one like it,” Coker observed.
A tremendous amount of pre-auction interest has been generated by an exceptional painting, probably mid 19th century, that depicts a blond, blue-eyed Western child dressed in a traditional furisode kimono and white stockings suitable to wear with formal zori sandals. In her right hand, the subject holds an Asian doll, also dressed in traditional kimono attire; and in her other hand she holds a hand-painted paddle. The artwork is not signed, but it is a very high-quality painting, Coker said.
The auction contains 17 Picasso sketches consigned by a British physician who purchased them individually over the years from auctions, other collectors and even patients. Some of the sketches were done with felt pen on French postcards and feature the types of images for which Picasso is so well known – abstract people, horned rams and goats, nudes, etc. Among them is a large sketch
