For 12/31

Slug: Bonhams & Butterfields Sets World Record Price

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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. — Fine art auctioneers Bonhams & Butterfields successfully sold Native American, pre-Columbian and tribal arts on December 6, bringing more than $1.3 million for the more than 550 lots offered and setting a world record price for a wonderful example of Eskimo basketry.

The enter offering of ethnographic arts featured Native American baskets, pottery, jewelry, beadwork, Southwest weavings, Eskimo and Pacific Northwest and pre-Columbian material, African and tribal works. The sale’s top lot was a rare Pacific Eskimo basketry hat from the collection of the Rev A.P. Kashevaroff, the late Russian Orthodox priest of Juneau, Alaska. The finely woven hat, featuring an inverted cone shape with a concave crown, lavishly decorated with a painted design of a wolf and adorned with dentalium shells, beads, red cloth and sea lion whiskers, set a world record auction price for Native American basketry at $160,250 ($125/$175,000).

“It is a true honor to bring this piece of Alutiiq heritage back to Alaska,” says Sven Haakanson, Jr, PhD, executive director of the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak. “It is more than a beautiful object from our past; it is a symbol of an Alutiiq family, a rare and precious piece of our ancestors.”

Other Northwest lots offered during the early part of the auction sold for strong prices as well. A Northwest Coast speaker’s staff more than 4 feet long with an elaborate carving of a composite creature with varied animal attributes — wings and body of a bird, head of a bear and multiple wolves heads — sold for $11,750, while a Tlingit copper dagger, circa 1918, sold for $10,575. A Makah bone totem pole, 40 inches in length and carved entirely of whalebone, more than doubled its high estimate to bring $11,163.

Native American pots featured a strong assortment of historic and signed ware. A bidder paid $26,438 for a San Ildefonso polychrome bowl signed “Maria/Popovi 959” ($15/20,000), while another bowl by the noted potter, a black and sienna-on-buff jar with polished, double-hooked wing motifs, sold for $10,575. A pair of signed blackware jars sold within estimate, each bringing $12,925.

Baskets sold included strong prices for a pair of unusual Apache ollas. An enormous container at 21 by 21 inches, worked in an all-over diamond lattice pattern, sold above estimate for $11,163. A 15-inch-high, finely woven, Apache example included deer and human depictions along its sides with varied geometric motifs, and featured a rarely seen concave rounded base, selling for $10,575. The same price was realized for a Panamint polychrome basket featuring standing human figures in varied hues, each wearing a hat. An 8-inch-high Yokut polychrome bottleneck basket brought $14,100.

A wonderfully carved Wyandot wooden ladle sold for $29,375, its carved figure shown seated with an unusual pleated cap, dressed in a long garment and supporting a keg of liquor on her lap — indicating a likely connection with the White Panther cult.

Within the sale’s Southwest Weavings section, a bidding battle pushed the price for a Navajo Germantown rug to $26,790, and a Navajo, late Classic, serape sold for $26,438. An unusual and extremely rare Navajo Germantown portiere brought $11,163; this 7- by 5-foot example featured whirling log motifs in its corners and initials woven in the center of the dual panels. 

Pre-Columbian stone figures, ceramic vessels and tribal objects comprised the sale’s final hundred lots, with two sets of male and female figures attracting interest. A pair of Toradja tau-taus, Sulawesi, Indonesia, constructed of separately carved wooden legs, arms, torsos and heads fitted together with wood pegs, sold within estimate for $8,225. Each 5-foot-tall figure featured inset bone eyes and brass armbands or bracelets. A pair of 20-inch-high Ifugao rice gods from the Philippines depicting a man and woman with slightly bent knees and arms, straight triangular noses, slit mouths and eyes with an encrusted patina sold above estimate for $9,400.

Prices include the buyer’s premium charged.

For information about future auctions, 415-861-7500 or www.Bonhams.com.

locals

GLEN FALLS, N.Y. — On January 16, at 2 pm, The Hyde Collection will present part of the “State-of-the-Arts Series,” “Victorian Roots of Film Noir.” David C. Cody, professor of English at Hartwick College will present a lecture using clips from film noir classics such as Sunset Boulevard and Laura as well as slides of Pre-Raphaelite art. Cody will discuss how film noir was influenced by Victorian art and literature. The lecture will be in the Helen Froehlich Auditorium. The Hyde Collection is at 161 Warren Street. For information, 518-792-1761 or www.HydeCollection.org.

GLEN FALLS, N.Y. — On January 23, at 2 pm, The Hyde Collection will present part of the “State-of-the-Arts Series,”’ “How New is the New Museum of Modern Art.” Mary Anne Staniszewski, associate professor of arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will take a tour of the new Museum of Modern Art and the old Museum of Modern Art, raising questions about the museum’s mission. The lecture will be in the Helen Froehlich Auditorium. The Hyde Collection is at 161 Warren Street. For information, 518-792-1761 or www.HydeCollection.org.

GLEN FALLS, N.Y. — On Sunday, February 6, The Hyde Collection will open “Carrie Mae Weems: The Louisiana Project.” The exhibit will incorporate still photography, sound, and video projection as part of an exploration of culture, gender and race. The Hyde Collection is at 161 Warren Street. For information, 518-792-1761 or www.HydeCollection.org.