Premier Auction

Presented in the upcoming Premier Auction, offered by Brunk Auctions, is an American Chippendale desk and bookcase from the 18th century. The exterior functions as a bookcase, while the interior opens to five drawers and candle slides with scalloped and carved doors. Also included in this auction are several works of fine art, including a piece from American painter Maud Gatewood. She was a winner of several awards during her career, including recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her 2001 painting, Straw Field Spring, is signed and inscribed “rain coming/staccato painting/Gatewood 01.” 

Girandoles in the 18th century were almost exclusively crafted by Lemuel Curtis and Joseph N. Dunning in Massachusetts. These clocks were brass timekeepers with striking mechanisms and were suitable for meeting houses, banks, parlors, and other rooms. An example of Curtis’ girandole clocks will be available in the upcoming auction. This gilt mahogany piece shows a small painting of Perry’s Victory in the war of 1812 on the lower panel. 

A Thomas Worthington Whittredge original painting is also presented in the auction. Born in a log cabin near Springfield, Ohio, Whittredge painted many landscapes and portraits as a young man. However, it wasn’t until Whittredge traveled across the Great Plains that he started painting his most notable landscape works. In his words, “I had never seen the plains or anything like them. They impressed me deeply. I cared more for them than for the mountains…” To view more furniture, art, and antiquities from the collection of Lawrence and Helen Alspaugh, visit Bidsquare