Great Estates - Freeman`s Auction
Transcription
Great Estates - Freeman`s Auction
Trusts & Estates autumn 2015 01 upcoming at auction profile Tim Andreadis 02 affairs to remember a closer look 03 great estates Washington, D.C. Delaware Virginia West Virginia Pennsylvania New York 10 coming to auction Freeman’s Lyon & Turnbull 11 trusts & estates directory Norman Rockwell, "Two Old Men and Dog: Hunting," $60,000-100,000; to be offered in our American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists sale on 12/06/15 Profile Upcoming @ AUCTION For assistance in buying or selling at auction please contact your regional representative listed in the directory (see page 11). Asian Arts 09/12/15 tim andreadis Specialist 20th Century Design Estate Jewelry 09/16/15 English & Continental Furniture & Decorative Arts 10/06/15 Books, Maps & Manuscripts 10/22/15 Modern & Contemporary Art 11/01/15 Jewelry & Watches 11/02/15 T im Andreadis is a specialist of 20th Century Design and American Furniture & Decorative Arts. He specializes in American & European pre and post war furniture and design, as well as 20th century studio and contemporary craft. Prior to joining Freeman’s in 2013, Mr. Andreadis worked as a 20th century design specialist at another prominent east coast auction house. Within the short time Mr. Andreadis has been with Freeman's, he has already has brought key works of 20th century design to market, including important examples by Finn Juhl, Paul Evans, and George Nakashima. He also oversees Freeman’s annual Pennsylvania Sale, which celebrates artists from the region including Samuel Yellin, Harry Bertoia, Wharton Esherick, George Nakashima, Paul Evans, and Phillip Lloyd Powell. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Mr. Andreadis holds a Master’s degree in American Material Culture from the Winterthur Program at the University of Delaware. He frequently writes and speaks on topics of 20th century design, and is an active member of the Decorative Arts Trust, the Society of Winterthur Fellows, and the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass. The Pennsylvania Sale 11/10/15 American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts 11/11/15 The Sporting Sale 11/19/15 Musical Instruments 11/20/15 American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists 12/06/15 The Holiday Jewelry Sale 12/14/15 Silver & Objets de Vertu 12/15/15 Dates subject to change. Please refer to our website. Important Walnut Long Chair, 1979, George Nakashima, H: 32, W: 37 1/2, D: 66 in., $60,000-80,000; to be offered in our Pennsylvania Sale on 11/10/15 01 Affairs to remember National Trust for Scotland | April 9, 2015 Devon First Night | May 20, 2014 The National Trust for Scotland USA held its 8th annual gala and auction at the beautiful Metropolitan Club in New York City. Along with Freeman’s, over 300 donors and supporters attended the sold-out event. The 2015 Great Scot Award was presented to the legendary stand-up comedian and actor, Billy Connolly, CBE. Fellow Scot and Freeman’s Vice Chairman Alasdair Nichol recited a dramatic rendition of Burns’s classic poem, Address to a Haggis and conducted the charity auction. Freeman’s was proud to continue its support of the Art Gallery at the Devon Horse Show. ‘First Night at Devon’ is held the night before the official opening of the Devon Horse Show & Country Fair when guests enjoy an exclusive preview of the Art Gallery offerings among the grounds that are abuzz with horses and riders in the practice ring. Steeped in a rich heritage dating back to 1896, the show and fair continues its glorious tradition as the oldest and largest outdoor multi-breed equestrian competition in the United States. A Closer Look du Pont de Nemours, Pierre Samuel. [Mémoire] aux républiques équinoxiales, et a celles qui leurs seront naturellement confederees. [Paris]: March, 1815. $30,000-$50,000 To be offered in the Books, Maps & Manuscripts auction on 10/22/15. From the Estate of Nancy du Pont Reynolds Cooch. P ierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739 – 1817), the aristocratic French economist, writer and government official wrote numerous influential treatises on political and economic theory, and was advisor to Jacques Necker and King Louis XVI. He was also the father of famed American business magnate Eleuthere Irenee du Pont, founder of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. Recently, while appraising the Estate of Pierre Samuel’s great, great, great granddaughter Nancy du Pont Reynolds Cooch, Freeman’s specialist David Bloom rediscovered her ancestor’s handwritten political treatise, Republiques equinoxiales, du Pont’s constitutional treatise on the countries of South America, which had never been published, and was assumed lost after his death in 1817. That du Pont had even written such a work was, in fact, only known from references to it in extant correspondence between du Pont and Thomas Jefferson from 1815 and 1816. Close examination of the subject manuscript from the Estate of Nancy du Pont Reynolds Cooch reveals that it is either the only known period copy or even the original manuscript come to light, having heretofore spent two centuries in the custody of the du Pont family. For more information, please contact our Books, Maps & Manuscripts specialist, David Bloom at [email protected] or call +1 267.414.1246. 02 Great Estates Metropolitan Washington, D.C. The Adele Lebowitz Trust A dele Lebowitz was honored by the state of Virginia in 2013 with a resolution commending her lifetime of civic engagedness, commitment to racial justice and unwavering dedication to the welfare of children. Ms. Lebowitz passed up millions of dollars in potential sale revenue and instead donated her home and prime 18-acre McLean estate to the Fairfax County Park Authority. From her gift came abundant public nature trails and gardens centered on an innovative kind of public park, called Clemyjontri, named after her children: Caroline (Cl), Emily (emy), John (jon) and Petrina (tri). The first public park in the region specifically designed for special needs and disabled children, as well as the general public, Cemyjontri quickly became the most utilized public facility of its kind. In the first 25 days of operation, the playground drew 12,000 visitors, an average of 475 each day. On top of this remarkable achievement, her nearby home will soon become a community center. As the mother of a child who adores visiting Clemyjontri wrote upon Adele Lebowitz’s death, she was “the most wonderful woman I never met.” Adele Lebowitz was the widow of pioneering businessman and civic leader Mortimer C. Lebowitz, the founder of the Morton’s Department Store chain in Washington, D.C. Starting in 1935, at a time when race relations remained mired in the past, Mr. Lebowitz offered integrated facilities at his stores for black and white customers, hired employees of all races and paid them same wages. He opened stores in impoverished areas of the city, worked as president of the Urban League and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in Montgomery, Alabama. 03 Ilse Bing, group of photographs, signed, portraits of Adele Lebowitz & children, $800-1,200; to be offered in our Books, Maps & Manuscripts sale on 10/22/15 Great Estates Metropolitan Washington, D.C. A fine Japanese gold lacquer display cabinet on stand, Kazaridana, Meiji period, $3,000-5,000; to be offered in our Asian Arts sale on 9/12/15 Ricardo Martinez, "Hijo Prodigo III," oil on canvas, $50,000-70,000; to be in our Modern & Contemporary Art sale on 11/1/15 Mortimer and Adele’s commitment to a vision of an all-inclusive world underscored their lives and work. After World War II they offered refuge and employment on their McLean estate to the Ishiyamas, a family of Japanese-Americans, who had spent years in an American Internment camp. The Lebowitz’s donated land to Mr. Ishiyama, a master gardener, so that he could open his own nursery on the property. It is believed that the gardens Mr. Ishiyama created for numerous McLean estates and parks still continue to this day. The Lebowitzes were also staunch supporters of the Jewish community, and Mortimor served as chair of the Washington Committee for the Rebuilding of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Most recently, the Lebowitz’s Clemyjontri Park became the perfect host for a benefit honoring wounded military personnel and their families put on by the Yellow Ribbon Fund. The Art Collection of Adele Lebowitz reflects her global vision. Local African-American artists such as Sam Gilliam, are represented as are the works of native american painters, such as Fritz Scholder, Mexican modernists like Ricardo Martinez, and Chinese abstract expressionists including Zao-Wou-Ki. Picasso, Tamayo, and Sam Francis are also represented. Chinese bronze sculptures, Japanese lacquerware, and fine silver round out the collection. The collection of Adele Lebowitz will be sold by Freeman's throughout the fall of 2015 in numerous specialized auctions. For more information, please contact our Washington D.C. representative, Matthew S. Wilcox at [email protected]. 04 Great Estates Delaware The Estate of Nancy du Pont Reynolds Cooch A t her Foxwood estate in Greenville, Delaware, Nancy du Pont Reynolds Cooch spent a long life creating fine sculpture, raising her children, entertaining friends, and pursuing her antique collecting interests, from early American glass flasks to rare French wine. Committed to her community, she found time to serve numerous children’s charities, museums, and institutions throughout the region. A childhood friend of Andrew Wyeth, Mrs. Cooch appointed her home with his paintings, and cherished his personalized Christmas cards to her family. An avid fisherman, equestrian and hunter, her Foxwood home reflected her many interests and hobbies, with shotgun shells tucked away discretely underneath a superlative collection of Delftware pottery, and prized fishing rods hung on walls like fine paintings. As a member of the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin Clos de Vougeot in Bourgogne, she frequently entertained fellow wine lovers from the U.S and Europe, drawing from her impressive wine cellar. As an artist, Nancy du Pont Reynolds Cooch pioneered sculpting in the modern medium of 05 Lucite, and also worked in bronze. Over her lifetime her works were exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, the National Sculpture League in New York City, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in numerous regional venues. A descendant of Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, founder of the du Pont chemical company, who in 1802 began producing gun powder for the young United States, Nancy du Pont Reynolds Cooch always embraced her family’s rich American history. She was a member of the Colonial Dames, a charter member of the Mayflower Descendants, and League of American Pen Women. At Foxwood she preserved an important family archive stretching back to Eleuthere’s father, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours. Fittingly, her art also embodied the du Pont heritage, as her unusual medium of choice for sculpture, Lucite, was invented by the du Pont Company in 1931. Moreover in the 1940s she designed a hooked rug, now on Great Estates Delaware Nancy du Pont Reynolds shooting, c. 1960 Foxwood exterior, Greenville, Delaware exhibition at the Hagley Museum & Library, which was the first such creation made of nylon, another breakthrough du Pont product. The rug depicts the history of the du Pont family saga, from the ship that brought her forebear from France, to important historical sites in the Brandywine valley, the du Pont’s early mills and company offices, as well as Christ Episcopal Church in Greenville, Delaware, which the family attended. On a whimsical note, Mrs. Cooch also included her little dog, Huffy. The collection of Nancy du Pont Reynolds Cooch will be sold throughout the fall of 2015 in the following auctions: One of the highlights from this estate is "Winter Corn Fields" by Andrew Wyeth, estimated at $600,000-800,000; to be offered in our December 6 auction. For more information, please contact our Washington D.C. representative, Matthew S. Wilcox at [email protected]. American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts Auction 11/11/15 Asian Arts Auction 09/12/15 English & Continental Furniture & Decorative Arts Auction 10/06/15 Books, Maps & Manuscripts Auction 10/22/15 The Pennsylvania Sale Auction 11/10/15 The Sporting Sale Auction 11/19/15 American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists Auction 12/06/15 Silver & Objets de Vertu Auction 12/15/15 George II Parcel gilt mahogany pier mirror, $1,000-1,500; to be offered in our English & Continental Furniture & Decorative Arts sale on 10/6/15; Chippendale style mahogany block front desk, $1,000-1,500; to be offered in our American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts sale on 11/11/15 06 Great Estates Virginia & West Virginia The Estate of Roy V. Mish Danish silver flatwarefor eight, Johan Rohde, sold for $5,312.50 B efore leaving to attend Princeton University, Roy V. Mish grew up in an early West Virginia historic home called Maidstone-on-the-Potomac. Originally a pre-Revolutionary tavern located at an important ferry crossing near Falling Waters, the strategic site had attracted George Washington during the French and Indian Wars, and Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson over a century later. With the past all around them, the Mish family became stewards of history and avid collectors of American material culture. Mish’s mother, Mary W. Vernon Mish, was instrumental in the creation of Hager House in Hagerstown and the Adam Stephen House in Martinsburg. Southern Charm F reeman's Southeast regional office based in Charlottesville, is pleased to announce the consignment of a prominent Orange, Virginia Estate. This vast collection includes fine French furniture, a rare collection of maps, Old Master drawings, Chinese artifacts and possibly one of the largest collections of Pre-Columbian pottery in private hands. Property from the Estate will be featured in Freeman's auctions throughout the Fall, Winter and Spring. Also of note, the Charlottesville office is delighted to offer a rare and early Gorham Silver Tea Service on behalf of a private Virginia client. This tea service will be a cornerstone of the upcoming American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts auction in November. For more information, please contact our Southeast representative, Holen Miles Lewis at [email protected]. Important, early five piece repoussé silver tea and coffee service, Gorham & Thurber, Providence, RI, the hot water pot dated "1850," $8,000-12,000; to be offered in our American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts sale on 11/11/15 07 Northwest Coast Indian carved minature totem, late 19th century, sold for $4,375; Chilcotin pictorial basket, early 20th Century, sold for $2,000 The collection from the Estate of Roy V. Mish included family antiques and art, as well an extensive collection of Pacific-Northwest native American baskets, painted canoe paddles and totems, which had been collected around the turn of the 20th century in Washington State by Roy’s great grandfather, James Mercer Vernon. Other items included several examples of fine Chippendale inlaid furniture, rare antique buttons, two tall case clocks, Ammi Philips portraits, and brides boxes. The collection was rounded out with fine Continental and Asian furniture and decorative arts. Great Estates Pennsylvania The Estate of William Fitch Hamilton F reeman’s is pleased to be offering a selection of items from the Estate of William Fitch Hamilton (1926-2015). Son of Colonel Charles and Katherine Hamilton, Mr. Hamilton was an avid collector, wine connoisseur, and talented bridge player. Mr. Hamilton was passionate about early British silver, Americana, Caucasian rugs, lighting and lamps, and he purchased what attracted him, not what was necessarily in vogue. His careful collecting choices proved to create an extensive and important collection of early British and American silver. An item of particular import is a fine Chinoiserie decorated William and Mary silver tankard. Chased on one side to depict a finely-dressed figure and serpent-form fountain, on the other with a servant holding a vase of flowers, the tankard was also later engraved with the coat-of-arms for the Huth family. English silver from this period chased with Chinese-inspired motifs is rare, and can be considered an early expression of the Chinoiserie style. Chinoiserie decoration represents an imaginative, exotic, and remote land that many in the West sought to discover and reinterpret. It is an entirely European style with inspiration that is exclusively oriental, that heavily influenced taste throughout the 18th century. A tankard of similar form and decoration, circa 1685, can be seen in Dawn Jacobson’s Chinoiserie (pg. 29). It is noted that this piece is entirely original and its decoration of “true chinoiseries” had “no imported prototypes.” The William and Mary tankard at hand was created in 1689 at the beginning of the use of the Chinoiserie style in European decorative arts and silver. Prior to entering the Hamilton collection, this rare and interesting tankard had a rich history of ownership that speaks to its appeal to sophisticated collectors. In the early 20th century it came to market through the John Dunn-Gardner (1811-1903) sale at Christie’s London in 1902. Formerly known as the Earl of Townshend until a private act of Parliament declared him illegitimate in 1843, Dunn Gardner was a noted member of the British Parliament from 1841-47 and one of the largest landowners in Cambridge. He was also recognized for the fine collections of books, silver and art objects he amassed and exhibited on loan at the South Kensington Museum, now known as the Victoria & Albert Museum, for many years. The books from his “exceedingly choice library”, were sold by Leigh and S. Sotheby and later Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge in 1843 and 1875. When his collection of silver and art was later put for sale by Christie’s in 1902 it attracted considerable attention from other discerning collectors. It is purported that the William and Mary tankard was purchased at this auction for the banker, industrialist and financier John Pierpont Morgan. Like Dunn Gardner, Morgan also developed a widely lauded collection that he exhibited on loan at the Victoria & Albert museum from 1901 to 1912. Upon Morgan's death in 1913, his son J.P. Morgan, Jr. established the Morgan Library & Museum as a memorial to his father, and donated a large amount of his incredible collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it formed the backbone of several of the museum's collections. In 1982, a vast collection of silver belonging to the family of J.P. Morgan was offered for sale at Christie’s, selling for more than $1.6 million, during a “70-minute bidding spree that auction house officials called a ‘landmark’ sale.” The William and Mary tankard was later purchased by S.J. Shrubsole, the noted dealer in antique silver whose galleries in London and New York catered to other notable collectors including William Randolph Hearst and H.F. DuPont. It was later sold to Mr. Hamilton, and kept as a treasured piece in his collection until his death earlier this year. The tankard, along with several other important pieces of English silver, will be offered for sale on December 15th, 2015 in our upcoming Silver & Objets de Vertu auction, with the important American silver items to be sold on November 11th, 2015. For more information, please contact our Department Administrator, Sarah Blattner at [email protected] or call +1 267.414.1225. Fine William and Mary Chinoiserie silver tankard, London, 1689-90, maker's mark YT, $15,000-20,000; to be offered in our Silver & Objets de Vertu sale on 12/15/15 08 Great Estates New York The Estate of Jerome & Elaine Kurtz F or the daughters of Jerome and Elaine Kurtz, art was a defining element of their parents’ marriage and the family landscape. “They were always looking, and always interested.” The family homes were filled with art defined by warm tones and organic media, and included paintings by William Scott and Antoni Tàpies and sculpture by Lucio Fontana, George Rickey and Harry Bertoia- works that were as loved and familiar to the family as were Elaine’s own paintings that hung beside them. Freeman’s is honored to present works from the Kurtz Collection in our Modern & Contemporary Art auction, in which this diverse collection of cherished works – spanning from Modernism to Minimalism - is presented. Jerome and Elaine Kurtz both grew up in Philadelphia, and married after he completed law school at Harvard, and she art school at the Philadelphia Museum School or Industrial Art (now The University of the Arts). Jerome went on to become the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service in the Carter Administration and was considered a leading tax expert of his time. Elaine became an accomplished artist with gallery representation in Washington, Philadelphia and New York. Her career was recently highlighted with a retrospective exhibition at Philadelphia’s own Woodmere Art Museum in 2012. The couple’s first shared exposure to the arts occurred soon after they married when the army transferred Mr. Kurtz to Paris in 1956. According to their daughters, these were formative years in which the two first were exposed to Modernism, and may have made their first acquisitions- a Picasso lithograph and a drawing by Andre Marchand. After the birth of two children, Elaine decided to pursue further artistic training, and studied for two years at the Barnes Foundation. During this time, the couple enjoyed friendships with Elaine’s fellow art school friends and teaching colleagues such as noted Philadelphia artist Edna Andrade. Close friendships with local artists and friends centered around their “Gourmet Association of Philadelphia” in which members hosted elaborate gourmet meals (on one occasion, Elaine served a turkey that had been covered with gold leaf), announced with elaborate, handmade invitations. 09 When the couple moved to Washington, D.C. in 1966 for Jerome’s position with the Treasury, Elaine studied painting at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, where, according to her daughters, she became interested in color field artists like Josef Albers and Mark Rothko. Through all these years, Elaine kept a separate studio, working diligently at her career. “She was the hardest working person I’ve ever known,” commented one of her daughters recently. Beginning in the 1960s, her work evolved from studios of color and light in careful, linear canvases- often executed in cool and light tones- to later works, “Alluvials,” which are organic, warm earth tones, characterized by the use of sand mixed with pigment which swirls and flows with the force and movement of water or natural elements. Freeman’s is delighted to offer a few examples from both phases of Elaine’s artistic oeuvre in this auction as well. Represented by the Martha Jackson Gallery, and later the David Anderson Gallery in New York, Elaine would occasionally trade her own works with her dealers. For example, in one remarkable transaction in 1981, Elaine exchanged a few of her own paintings for the Antoni Tapies, Lucio Fontana and William Scott paintings which are part of this wonderfully diverse and intimate collection. Surely, collage elements of Tapies canvas, Fontana’s organic terracotta work scratched and pierced by hand, and Scott’s warm palate all spoke to Elaine’s organic interpretation of nature. Elaine died in 2003, and in 2013 Jerome moved from their loft space and into a light-filled apartment on New York’s Lower West Side. There, Elaine’s paintings hung alongside the works by modern and contemporary masters. The collection will be exhibited in New York, London, and Philadelphia before being offered for sale at Freeman’s on November 1. For more information, please contact our Modern & Contemporary Art specialist, Anne Henry at [email protected] or call +1 267.414.1220. William Scott, “Change Back,” signed and dated 69 verso, oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in. (61 x 61cm), $50,000-80,000; Antoni Tàpies, “Feltre Amb Banda Negra,” signed bottom right, mixed media on wood,26 7/8 x 21 3/4 in. (68.3 x 55.3cm) $40,000-60,000; to be offered in our Modern & Contemporary Art Sale on 11/01/15 Coming to Auction: Freeman's Comprising four brothers – Robert Wallace, Walter Frazer, Edwin, and Charles — the Martin Brothers studio pottery was established in London, in 1873, and remained active until its closure in 1914. Although these formed only a relatively small part of their production, today they are best known for producing grotesque ‘Wally’ bird tobacco jars, and mugs, and other items decorated with grotesque faces. Part of the late 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement, these instantly recognizable birds have remained a strong favorite among collectors for their exaggerated and knowing countenances. Tim Andreadis +1 267.414.1215 [email protected] To view our exhibition schedule and auction times please visit us at www.freemansauction.com Salt-glaze stoneware “Wally Birds,” Martin Brothers. From left to right: $15,000-20,000, $20,000-25,000, $10,000-15,000; to be offered in our Art + Design sale on 02/27/16 Coming to Auction: Lyon & Turnbull Mackintosh had produced versions of the traditional ladderback chair before, first for David Gauld in 1893 and then as a bedroom chair at Windyhill in 1901. This understated and deceptively simple design of 1903, for Miss Cranston's new Willow Tearooms in Sauchiehall Street, is his most successful treatment of this vernacular form. The dark wood against by the pale walls and tablecloths of the tearoom interiors accentuating the striking lines of this one of Mackintosh's most recognizable chairs. John Mackie +44 (0)131 557 8844 [email protected] To view our exhibition schedule and auction times please visit us at www.lyonandturnbull.com. CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH (1868-1928) FOR MISS CRANSTON'S WILLOW TEAROOMS Ebonised oak 'Ladder Back' chair, circa 1903 the high back with thirteen gently bowed rectangular horizontal splats above original rush covered drop-in seat, raised above square section legs, joined by five cylindrical stretchers 104.7cm high, 45.5cm wide, 38.5cm deep £10,000-15,000 | $15,000-23,000 Provenance: Miss Cranston's Willow Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow, Scotland; Private Collection, London Literature: Billcliffe, Roger, 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh: The Complete Furniture Drawings & Interior Designs', Moffatt 2009, pp 150-165, illus. 1908.8 and in situ at 1903 C;D; E; F; J; H & I 10 Trust & Estates Directory: Samuel T. Freeman III Senior Vice President +1 267.414.1222 [email protected] Paul Roberts President Business Development | UK & Europe +011.44.131.557.8844 [email protected] Matthew S. Wilcox Vice President +1 215.940.9825 [email protected] Kelly Wright Director | New England Region +1 617.367.3400 [email protected] Amy Parenti Vice President +1 267.414.1223 [email protected] Holen Miles Lewis Director | Southeast Region +1 434.409.0114 [email protected] Don Walter Vice President | Senior Appraiser +1 267.414.1224 [email protected] Michael Larsen Representative | West Coast +1 818.205.3608 [email protected] We invite you to learn more about the full range of services at Freeman’s by visiting our website. Past issues of our “Trusts & Estates Newsletter” are available to view and download online. www.freemansauction.com 1808 Chestnut Street Philadelphia PA 19103 | 215.563.9275