Date: Fri 30-Oct-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: DAVIDS

Quick Words:

Christie's

Full Text:

Christie's Postsale Americana

w/7 cuts

NEW YORK CITY -- "Seventeenth Century American furniture finally had its day

with two extraordinary chairs from colonial America selling for extraordinary

prices," commented John Hays, head of Christie's American furniture department

after its October 8 Americana auction. "This was a small yet highly selective

sale, and the prices achieved illustrate the passion that collectors of

American furniture have for top quality pieces."

The auction, which established a record price for a Southern Seventeenth

Century American armchair, totaled an impressive $1,621,365 for the day.

Ninety-two lots were offered in the auction with a sales rate of 86 percent,

or 79 lots sold.

Leading the auction were two early armchairs, offered to the gallery

consecutively as lots 36 and 38 (lot 37 did not exist). The first was a rare

turned and joined cherry and ash armchair with a single-family provenance. The

chair, with turned stiles and eight ring and reel turned spindles, was framed

with horizontal rails above and below and was topped by nine ring and reel

turned finials.

Christie's catalogued the rare chair as being "the only known armchair of its

kind," and said it was a "rare document of the aesthetic preferences, craft

traditions, and cultural nuances that shaped the earliest material culture of

the region." The auction house also called the chair a great survivor of

Seventeenth Century South Carolina craftsmanship.

Consigned by a direct descendant of the original Charleston, S.C., owner, the

chair (est $100/150,000) was loosely attributed by the auction house to the

South Carolina coastal region, circa 1680-1700. Christie's said the chair had

been constructed by an emigrant Hugenot joiner and pointed to numerous

traditional French chair making influences to support that theory.

"The configuration of the back, with tall spindles set into horizontal rails

that are square in section, is a French chair making tradition," Christie's

stated. Another indication of French influence was in the "space between the

stay rail and the seat, probably allotted for a tied-on squab. The materials

employed, craft techniques, and overall aesthetic combined with the historical

provenance allows this armchair to make a unique statement that reflects the

synthesis of foreign influences and indigenous tendencies that characterize

early American furniture."

Bidding on the lot was brisk as it shot beyond the presale estimates,

eventually selling for a record auction price of $288,500 including premium.

It went to an unnamed American institution.

The next lot to be offered was a rare Boston William and Mary turned maple

wing chair with a turned stretcher base ending in carved Spanish feet. This

chair also posted impeccable provenance. For more than two centuries, it was

with the Doggett family of Boston and later of Maine. The chair had been sold

sometime during the 1960s to notable collector and scholar Harry Arons of

Ansonia, Conn.

Christie's catalogued this chair as being one of eight known examples of

William and Mary easy chairs, with four of those examples, in addition to the

one sold, having been produced in the same shop. With a wonderful old finish

on the base and evidence of numerous recoverings throughout the frame, the

chair carried a presale estimate of $150/250,000. Despite high expectations,

bidding on this chair was somewhat more subdued than the previous lot.

However, it sold for at the high end of the estimate for a solid price of

$250,000.

Other top lots from the auction included a New York City Neo-Greco ormolu and

porcelain mounted gilt parcel sideboard attributed to Pottier and Stymus,

circa 1880. It sold well above the $40/60,000 presale estimate at $99,300. A

Federal inlaid mahogany serpentine-front chest of drawers, thought to be of

Boston origin, also exceeded estimates, bringing $85,000 against a presale

estimate of $30/50,000.

A classic mahogany veneered and ormolu mounted card table attributed to Duncan

Phyfe, thought to be a mate to the table made for prominent fur trader John

Jacob Astor, did well at $79,500.

An early Queen Anne cherry and poplar highboy, which retained its original

stepped shelves atop, sold at the low estimate, bringing $68,500, while a

Chippendale mahogany Pembroke table from the John Townsend shop, bearing the

remnants of an original Townsend shop label, sold above estimates at $68,500.

A nice Classical Maryland pier table with strong marbleized, grained and

stenciled paint went out at the high estimate, bringing $46,000, while a Queen

Anne walnut highboy with broken arch pediment and cabriole legs ending in pad

feet sold between estimates at $43,700.

With some 75 percent of the auction consisting of furniture, accessories were

dwarfed. Leading the non-furniture lots was a rare double portrait by Ammi

Phillips. The folky painting depicting a brother and sister and their cat was

one of roughly 12 known double portraits by this desirable artist. Estimated

at $60/90,000, the Phillips fell short of estimates, selling for $57,500. The

next highest non-furniture lot sold consisted of a pair of Federal bell-metal

andirons and two fire tools. They went above estimate at $13,800.

While several of the Gothic and Neo-Greco pieces in the end of the sale failed

to find buyers, the most prominent piece to stumble on its way to meet reserve

was a Classical carved mahogany diminutive sofa attributed to the shops of

Duncan Phyfe. It carried a presale estimate of $100/150,000.

Culminating the year at Christie's with the highest totals ($23,341,606) ever

posted for the American decorative arts department, the auction gallery is

looking forward to its three-day sale of fine Americana in January.

Prices include the buyer's premium. For further information, contact

Christie's, 502 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022, 212/546-1000.