18 — Antiques and The Arts Weekly — July 1, 2016
Auction Action In Boston, Mass.
Chestnut Hill Collection Draws Crowds To Grogan Auction
A plate from Martha Washington’s tea service, known as “Lady Washington’s States
China,” was the highlight of the auction.
Given to her in 1796, only about 20 pieces of
the original 40 are known to survive.
George Washington’s Mount Vernon paid
$244,000 for the plate.
Mary Stevenson Cassatt’s well-known
painting “Augusta with Her Forefinger on
Her Cheek” went to a private collector for
$231,800.
Review and Onsite Photos
by Rick Russack
Photos Courtesy Grogan & Company
Archeologists working at Mount Vernon
have recovered four shards of the tea service, probably from two or three pieces. —
Photo courtesy George Washington’s Mount
Vernon
Grogan & Company is a
family-run business. Nancy
and Michael Grogan, with
daughter Lucy on the right.
A platinum, aquamarine
and sapphire ring by Cartier achieved $12,200. The
step-cut aquamarine stone
weighed 17 carats.
Michael Grogan reviews the terms of the sale just before
starting the auction.
Leading the several lots of
watches was a Rolex Oyster
perpetual day-date yellow
gold and diamond man’s
watch that earned $12,200.
BOSTON, MASS. — The
salesroom was nearly full as the
June 5 sale got underway at
Grogan & Company. The first
111 lots had been consigned by
a Chestnut Hill collector and
those lots brought out the
crowd. The high point of the collection, and of the overall sale,
was a 93/8-inch plate from a tea
service designed for Martha
Washington. It was bought by
George Washington’s Mount
Vernon for $244,000.
In 1796, China Trade merchant Andreas Everardus van
Braam Houckgeest gave a tea
service of approximately 40
pieces of Chinese export porcelain to Martha Washington. He
designed the service himself,
and presented it as a gift to Mrs
Washington at the presidential
mansion in Philadelphia. He
had brought the set from Canton in a box labeled “for Lady
Washington” and the service
has come to be known as “Lady
Washington’s States China.”
Each piece in the set is decorated with a linked chain encompassing the names of the 15
states in the union (symbolizing
strength and unity), a serpent
swallowing its tail (symbolizing
eternity), a Latin motto derived
from Virgil’s Aeneid (roughly
translated “[Our Union is our]
Glory and [our] Defense against
[Him]”) and Martha Washington’s monogram surrounded by
a laurel wreath (symbolizing
victory) atop a golden sunburst.
About 20 pieces from the service survive today, most owned by
museums. Susan P. Schoelwer,
the Robert H. Smith senior
curator at Mount Vernon, told
Antiques and The Arts Weekly,
“Thanks to support from a number of generous donors, we are
thrilled to be able to ‘bring
home’ this beautiful plate from
Martha Washington’s States
china service. Our primary collecting focus is original Washington objects, and the States
china plate is a superlative
example. We are particularly
excited about the superb condition of its highly symbolic decoration, which is unmatched by
any of the other known pieces of
this unique service. It thus represents most closely the appearance that George and Martha
Washington and their guests
would have known.”
With the acquisition of this
piece, the Mount Vernon collection now numbers eight examples of the States china service:
a covered cup, three covered-cup
saucers, two tea saucers, a
lozenge-shaped dish purchased
at Christie’s in 2013 and the
newly acquired plate.
After the sale, Michael Grogan
said, “It gave me goose bumps to
handle that plate. I’m accustomed to selling all kinds of
things and some have brought
more money than that did, but
the feeling of this was really
something else. The entire
process of dealing with this historic plate has been a career
high point for me. What a terrific resting place for this very special item.” Grogan said the consignor’s family had purchased
the plate in New York in the
1970s.
From the same Chestnut Hill
consignment, the Grogans sold
a portrait by Mary Stevenson
Cassatt, which brought the second highest price of the day, a
superb bookcase/desk attributed to Calvin Willey and a fine
pair of chairs attributed to
Samuel McIntire. Several other
paintings did well, and the sale
included an offering of fine
estate jewelry along with
numerous other interesting
items. There was plenty of easily affordable artwork and jewelry.
The sale grossed about
$1,378,600. By dollar value,
only about seven or eight percent failed to sell.
The bonnet top bookcase/desk,
attributed to Calvin Willey
more than tripled its high estimate to bring $91,500 from
Pennsylvania dealer Diana Bittel, bidding on the phone. The
cherry wood piece was dated
circa 1790, when Willey was
working in Lenox, Mass. He had
previously apprenticed to a
Colchester, Conn., school cabinetmaker and moved to Lenox
where he completed many of the
pieces known to have been
made by him. Asked about the
piece, Carl Stinson, well-known
auctioneer and scholar of early
American
furniture,
told
Antiques and The Arts Weekly,
“It’s truly magnificent: a masterpiece of Connecticut furniture.” The pair of Federal period
carved mahogany side chairs
attributed to McIntire realized
$15,860. Their shield-shape
backs included carved urns and
swags.
The Cassatt painting, 1910,
was just one of several fine
paintings in the sale. Known as
“Augusta with Her Forefinger on
Her Cheek,” it had a long exhibition history going back to 1914
and had frequently appeared in
museum catalogs. Augusta was
the subject of several Cassatt
paintings. The consignor’s family
had purchased the painting in
1971 from Hirschl & Adler in
New York. It was expected to do
well and it did — finishing at
$231,800. Also doing well, at
$67,100, was an oil by James
Edward Buttersworth (British
American, 1817–1894) depicting
a scene from the 1887 America’s
Cup race, “Volunteer & Thistle
with All Sails Full.” Volunteer
won the cup that year.
“Arctic Sunset off Labrador” by
William Bradford (American,
1823–1892), signed and dated
1872, earned $57,950. Bradford’s interest in the Arctic was
stimulated by the disappearance of the Franklin Expedition
in 1845 and the Arctic explorations of Dr Isaac Hayes in
1860–61. Branford made several extended trips to the region.
In 1869 he chartered the Scottish steamer Panther with a
crew of 40, cruised the Arctic
waters, bringing back many
photographs and sketches. The
sale also offered a 1956 Florida
landscape by Albert Ernest
Backus (American, 1906–1990),
which reached $24,400.
A confederate Civil War officer’s sword made by Thomas
Griswold, New Orleans, sold for $10,370.
July 1, 2016 — Antiques and The Arts Weekly — 19
A pair of tutti frutti earrings by Cartier, France, was the
top-selling lot of the 170-plus lots of watches and jewelry.
The earrings were 18K white gold, set with full, single and
baguette-cut diamonds and with carved emeralds, sapphires and rubies. The pair realized $24,400.
Attributed to Samuel McIntire, the pair of Federal period
side chairs brought $15,860.
Lucy Grogan, head of Grogan’s
jewelry department, put together a selection of 170-plus lots of
jewelry and watches. She
expected that a pair of tutti
frutti earrings by Cartier,
France, would be the top grossing item and she was right. The
earrings were 18K white gold,
set with full, single and
baguette-cut diamonds with
carved emeralds, sapphires and
rubies; each piece was signed
and numbered 4861 with a
French eagle’s head hallmark.
The pair sold for $24,440.
A platinum, aquamarine and
sapphire ring by Cartier fetched
$12,200, four times its estimate.
The step-cut aquamarine stone
weighed 17 carats and was
flanked by four channel-set rectangular step-cut sapphires.
Another ring of platinum with
diamonds reached $11,590. Its
prong-set brilliant-cut 2.29carat diamond was flanked by
two carats of diamonds. Buyers
did not have to spend five figures to go home with nice jewelry, however. A 14K gold ring
with a large oval cabochon
moonstone, framed by circle-cut
pink gemstones, went to an
absentee bidder for $671.
Watches included a men’s 18K
yellow gold and diamond Oyster
perpetual day-date Rolex, with
applied diamonds as numeral
indicators. It had an 18K yellow
gold bracelet and sold for
$12,200. A similar lady’s Rolex
brought $5,795. As with the
jewelry, not all watches were
expensive. One lot, selling for
$610, included two lady’s wristwatches; one platinum and diamond and the other 18K yellow
gold.
The sale was balanced with an
assortment of interesting artwork and accessories. There
were nine pieces of original artwork by Ludwig Bemelmans
(American, 1898–1962), creator
of the Madeline series of books
for children. A watercolor
sketch for “Madeline in London”
earned $4,575, a watercolor and
ink Christmas card brought
$1,098 and a 1957 oil painting
titled “Femme a la Rose” realized $5,185. Pablo Picasso’s 9½inch ceramic plate “Visage Noir,
Assiette G” finished at $1,098,
and an unusual valet chair by
Danish designer Hans Wegner,
made by Johannes Hansen,
Designed by Hans Wegner of
Denmark and made by
Johannes Hansen, Copenhagen, this valet chair had a
seat that lifted to reveal a
storage compartment. It
achieved $3,660.
earned $3,660.
A scarce lithograph by Charles
Parsons (American, 1821–1910)
of the Portland, Maine, waterfront seemed reasonable, reaching $976, and an interesting,
brightly colored, Island School
Outsider Art oil painting,
depicting a hairdresser at work,
fetched just $122.
After the sale, Michael Grogan
said, “I was pleased to see private buyers actively bidding.
There were two private buyers
competing with the phone bidders for the Martha Washington
plate and one of them later said
that if the plate wasn’t paid, to
please let him know. The Mary
Cassatt went to a collector.
That’s a good sign. Other neat,
less expensive things, also went
to private buyers. Overall, items
from the Chestnut Hill consignor did well, and I was also
pleased with some of the other
paintings.”
All prices reported include the
buyer’s premium.
For additional information,
www.groganco.com or 617-7202020.
“Arctic Sunset off Labrador” by William Bradford (American, 1823–1892) was painted in 1872. It went for $57,950.
A scene from the 1887 America’s Cup yacht race by James
Buttersworth (British American, 1817–1894) reached
$67,100. It was titled “Volunteer & Thistle With All Sails
Full.” Volunteer won the cup that year.
Not a sign seen everyday at an auction gallery. Stanley, the dog in question, was, as the sign said, for reasons
known only to him, barking from time
to time.
A very colorful Murano glass aquarium by Stefano Toso
exceeded its estimate, finishing at $3,050.
“Visage Noir, Assiette G,” a 9½-inch ceramic plate by Pablo Picasso, realized $1,098.
Attributed to Calvin Willey, and termed a
“masterpiece of Connecticut furniture,”
the desk and bookcase sold for nearly four
times over estimate, finishing at $91,500.
One of the bargains of the sale was a colorful Outsider Art
oil painting “Coiffeur” that realized only $122.