It Was The Month Of The Dragon At Briggs Auction In July, As A Lovely Porcelain Bowl Beautifully Decorated With An Enamel Dragon Design Gaveled For $200,000
GARNET VALLET, Pa. – Briggs Auction’s Fine Estates Auction held on July 30th featured a fine selection of antique and modern furnishings, fine art, fine porcelains, decorative arts and more. “This was a well-received auction with a wide variety of items that appealed to a broad range of bidders,” said Stephen Turner, the president of Briggs Auction, Inc. “Strong prices were a good indication the industry is thriving.”
The highlight of the auction was a lovely Chinese covered porcelain bowl, beautifully decorated with an enamel dragon design and a double-ring Yongzheng mark, paired with small famille rose covered teapot with a calligraphy mark. The bowl gaveled for $200,000 (all prices quoted include the buyer’s premium). It was part of a collection from a direct descendant of Thomas Alexander Scott (Pennsylvania, 1823-1881).
“It was very exciting,” Mr. Turner said, “and gratifying to see this rare piece of Chinese decorative arts be so competitively fought over by bidders across the globe. The intense interest this small bowl generated almost from the day the auction was posted online showed us that we had an incredibly special piece on our hands. We’re very happy not only for the consignor’s family, and for the bowl’s new owner as well.”
Other items from the same collection included two early 20th century Louis Vuitton monogram steamer trunks, which realized $12,250 and $6,875; a grouping of ten Sevres porcelain cabinet plates with central floral medallions and various maker marks ($9,375); a grouping of fifteen Mintons Aesthetic Movement porcelain plates, each decorated for the Japanese market with raised gold and silver ikebana designs ($6,000); and a rare German horizontal table clock of hexagonal form, circa early 18th century, signed for Peter Krenckel, who worked as an assistant to Wilhelm Köberle in Eichstätt, Germany ($6,250).
The Scott descendant collection also featured a fine assortment of antique sterling silver decorative items, to include a Scandinavian silver peg tankard with an inset Danish Coronation of Queen Caroline Mathilde medal and with a “JJE” hallmark ($10,625); a fine English sterling silver kettle on stand with 1751 date mark ($4,560); and a fine English sterling silver epergne with an 1818 date mark ($4,500).
Mid-Century Modern furniture and decorative arts continue to see strong prices, as a fine George Nakashima end table with unusual triangular-form free-edge top on a Minguren I base, circa late 1960s/early 1970s, was no exception, changing hands for $8,750. Also, a pair of Modern design floor-standing metal sound sculptures in the style of Harry Bertoia’s Sonambient hammered for $5,000.
More traditional styles also did well, including a set of ten Stickley Colonial Williamsburg Restoration Georgian-style mahogany dining chairs ($3,500); a large 18th century or earlier Flemish verdure tapestry with bucolic design ($7,500); a fine pair of antique Chinese Export gilt mirrors with reverse-painted crests depicting two figures ($3,250); an American carved wall panel featuring an eagle in relief surrounded by a wreath, cornucopia, and fruit and floral design ($3,250); a lovely A Chinese silver and carved pale jade belt hook and plaque fitted as a hand mirror ($5,000); and a more contemporary David Goode signed and numbered cast bronze sculpture titled The Ferryman, from the artist’s The Goblin Collection ($4,250).
Fine art covered a variety of genres and periods, with many pieces achieving great prices, including a James Webb oil on panel genre scene harbor landscape ($8,750); a painting attributed to Thomas Chambers Hudson River School oil on canvas depicting a view of West Point ($6,875); a Harry Leith Ross oil on board illustration titled Soda Fountain ($5,280); a Joan Miró etching with aquatint titled Demi-Mondaine a Sa Fenetre ($5,250); a mixed-media illustration on panel attributed to Stanley Arthurs of a colonial military procession ($3,600); a Frank Earle Schoonover oil on canvas landscape titled Fall October ($3,250); and a large Itzchak Tarkay acrylic on canvas of three women at a café table ($4,320).
Internet bidding was done through Briggs Auction’s Bid at Briggs platform and via LiveAuctioneers.com.
Briggs Auction, Inc. is a four-generation, family-owned and operated auction house located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, offering online auctions, estate appraisal services and real estate auctions for estates, downsizers and more. Their bi-weekly Discovery auctions feature over 1,000 lots of antique and name-brand furnishings, decorative and fine art, fine and costume jewelry, silver, collectibles, coins, toys, tools, home goods, estate vehicles and more.
Monthly Fine Estates auctions feature wonderful 18th and 19th century and Mid-Century Modern furnishings, period and contemporary decorative arts, fine art and sculpture, fine porcelains, estate fine jewelry, silver and more. Please visit www BriggsAuction.com for their full auction schedule and details.
