Date: Fri 23-Jul-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: GWARD

Quick Words:

Grogan-Jackman

Full Text:

~Export Porcelain Tops Grogan Sale

By Bob Jackman

DEDHAM, MASS. -- Over the three days of the Memorial Day weekend Grogan and

Company conducted their spring auction at the gallery. The sale was organized

into specialized areas with art and Oriental rugs on Saturday, decorative arts

on Sunday, and silver on Monday. The top lot was a Chinese Export porcelain

punch bowl complete with its lid and undertray that sold for $57,500. Sales

totaled $1,680,811 with 86 percent of lots selling.

The punch bowl set was won by London dealer Michael Cohen. Mr Cohen commented,

"This is truly a rare example. There is only one other complete example known,

and that is in a museum. Other museums have the bowl, or the bowl with cover,

or the bowl with undertray, but those are not complete. We travel to America

two or three times a year, and this was one of the pieces we came for on this

trip."

This extraordinary set was both finely crafted and massive. Each piece was

hand-painted with a Chinese interpretation of a Western scene. Two couples

waited on a private dock to greet guests concealed in the cabin of a long boat

with six rowers. Behind them an elaborately landscaped hill rose toward a huge

manor house. The quality of the painting was exceptional.

The border was strongly decorated with alternating shells and poppies

separated by a diaper pattern. The interior was painted with fine floral

decoration in tones of sepia with yellow highlights.

The massive set was also finely potted. The undertray had a 22 inch diameter.

Each piece was perfectly contoured and free of kiln slumping. The pieces were

thickly potted so they would not burst under the weight of gallons of punch.

The top had a steep dome shape and was capped by a conical finial. The outer

lip of the cover flared gracefully over the bowl rim and its inner rim set

deeply below the bowl's rim.

The punch set was among 106 lots consigned by the estate of James Meigs. James

and Jane Meigs were major collectors of Chinese Export porcelain who lived in

Palm Beach and later had a second home in Tucson.

This portion of the sale attracted nationally active dealers such as A. J.

Broder of Lingues, N.J.

Another rare lot from the Meigs collection was a crucifixion teapot less than

6 inches tall. Despite a crack most of its height, it sold for $3,450.

Westerner religious scenes are uncommon on export porcelain, and the

crucifixion is a rare image. This featured St. Mary and St. John standing

beneath the cross in a well-painted scene, and various implements such as the

crown of thorns were illustrated in vignettes.

The most remarkable furniture lot was a rare Flemish cabinet, which was

constantly examined throughout the preview. Many New England dealers who

specialize in Continental furniture were interested in the cabinet within its

estimated range of $7/10,000. As the lot edged toward the stage, phone bidders

began dialing those long European numbers. A local collector opened bidding at

$7,000. That was topped by an absentee bid, and the absentee bidder was

contested by dealers in the gallery to $20,000. Then European phone bidders

dominated the action to the mid 30s. However, when the dust settled, a local

couple who deal in fine, small antiques had won the cabinet. They bought it

for their collection at $41,400.

Flemish cabinets were made as early as the Sixteenth Century. Some were

decorated with paintings by Hendrik van Balen the Elder, whose students

included Van Dyck and Frans Snyders. Originally, these cabinets were sold

without bases since the owner placed them atop counters, tables, or stands.

The example at auction was attributed to the Seventeenth Century, and was on a

later stand. Handles were mounted on either side for portability. This example

was capped by a section about three inches tall enclosed by cove molding, and

concealing a hidden drawer. Unlike most examples, the top board was fixed

rather than swinging up to reveal a large painting.

Flemish cabinets conformed to Renaissance structure and arrangement. Their

distinctive feature consisted of decorative elements placed on each drawer and

door. An oil painting on copper covered each of those 12 surfaces. The copper

sheets had been painted with period scenes before being mounted onto the

cabinet. The paintings were held against drawers and doors by distinctive wavy

Flemish molding that had been ebonized. Open areas between drawer fronts were

veneered with tortoise shell, some of which was replaced. The other exposed

surfaces were ebonized.

One consignment contained 37 pieces of finely crafted miniature furniture,

mostly from Europe. These were larger than dollhouse furniture with the

longest dimension between 6.75 and 22.5 inches. Most had a maximum dimension

between eight and 14 inches. Doors and drawers opened, and some were

internally fitted as jewelry caskets or manicure sets. This quality collection

attracted national dealers of miniature boxes such as Sallea Antiques of New

Canaan, Conn. and overseas phone bidders.

Most examples of miniature furniture in the collection sold between $805 and

$3,450. Star of the field at $6,038 was a miniature dining table by Stenhouse

and Savage of London. When closed, the table had a circular top, but with

leaves inserted it extended to an oval form. The table and leaves came in

their own fitted mahogany box.

At $3,738 another aggressively bid lot was a miniature Regency sewing stand.

The top was finely inlaid, and a sewing bag was suspended from its apron.

Another consignment featured 68 miniature bird carvings offered in 26 lots.

Makers included A. Elmer Crowell, Robert Phinney, Jr., Tex Wirtz, and Phillip

Brown. Pairs of miniatures ducks in the manner of Elmer Crowell sold in the

$1/2,000 range. Crowell songbirds were offered in lots of four to seven birds,

and those lots averaged $2,000 apiece. Although dramatically posed half-size

bird carvings by Robert Phinney of Arrowsic, Me. attracted preview attention,

timid bidders won them in the range of $633 to 863 per paired lot.

Michael Grogan began his career as an Oriental rug specialist with Sotheby's

and Christie's, and rugs continue to be a deep field at his auctions. Paul

Chatalbash of Fine Art Rugs of Brookline, Mass. bid aggressively and won about

one third of the rugs in the sale.

One hundred lots of silver were auctioned on Monday. A pair of 19 inch

Continental candlesticks brought $7,188, and that was also the winning bid on

an English coffee/tea service. A George III sterling soup tureen sold for

$6,038, and a Schanck three piece tea set went for $5,175. Four flatware sets

that sold for strong prices were a 137 piece set of Tiffany's Lap over Edge

pattern ($8,338), 106 pieces of Jensen's Acorn pattern ($7,188), a 97 piece

Jensen service ($6,038), and a 68 piece George III set ($4,025).

Prices quoted in this article reflect a 15 percent buyer's premium.