Christian Icon Tops Hap Moore Auction

November 22nd, 2014

Paul Philippe bronze sculpture of a Turkish Dancer with Parrot, $6555. Hap Moore photo.


Enamel and bronze Christian table icon, $7590.


Surf fishing scene by Emile Albert Gruppe, $4140.


Five-drawer country Chippendale tall chest in a nice grungy red paint, with at least two replaced wooden knobs and an extended bracket base with no evident leg breaks, $1293.75.


Moore said that the dark blue surface on this 19th-century blind-door cupboard was second paint. The form was simple and strong, and bidders liked it enough to chase it to $2070.


One of the four tall clocks in the auction that brought widely varying results. This Jonathan Mulliken clock, elegantly decorated and inlaid, made the highest price of them all—$2760.

York, Maine

Hap Moore’s November 22, 2014, auction in York, Maine, contained some fine artworks, clocks, and good furniture. But it was a dancing bronze and an amazing little Christian icon that came out on top.

Emile Albert Gruppe (1896-1978) created a scene of a place where most of us winter-bound Mainers would like to be, with two fishermen casting their lines into the surf from a rocky and sandy beach. It had the feel of a scene from Florida, where Gruppe also spent time, although an argument could be made for coastal Massachusetts as well. At 15" x 19", it was one of his smaller works, and it landed at a solid $4140 (including buyer’s premium), the third-highest lot of the sale.

Two rare and unusual works led the hit parade. One was a Paul Philippe (1870-1930) bronze sculpture known as Turkish Dancer with Parrot that was mistakenly listed as marked as “J. Philippe.” The cold-painted and parcel-gilt bronze statue of a young woman balancing on one foot while holding a gilded parrot came in at a strong second place at $6555.

The top lot was a little enameled bronze table icon that turned out to be the show-stopper. Between sapphire-colored columns, two doors on the side panels opened to reveal scenes of the Madonna and Child, the Crucifixion, attendant angels, saints, and other religious iconography. One of the crucifixion scenes was set into a chancel, behind an ornamental urn, with angels kneeling at the gallery railing. The top was in the form of a mansard roof with gilt trim, railings, and posts. When the bidding was done, it had closed for a remarkable $7590, a pleasant surprise, Moore admitted later. It came from the family of candy magnate Henry Heide, maker of Jujubes, Jujyfruits, and Gummi Bears. The company was founded in 1869, and after several mergers and acquisitions, operates under the name of the Ferrara Candy Company.

Four tall clocks each had a shot on the block. The one that led the group was a richly decorated Jonathan Mulliken clock, with checker and fan inlays and a shell carving on the waist door, ornate brass capitals and footers on the waist and bonnet columns, and a reticulated crest. It took top marks for the tall clocks at $2760. The brass and silvered face was clearly engraved “Jonat’n Mulliken/ Newburyport.” Mulliken (1746-1782) worked as a clockmaker and engraver in Lexington, Massachusetts, from 1767 to 1771, then moved to Newburyport, where he worked until 1787. In 1770, he produced an incendiary engraving of The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street Boston, an event that became known as the Boston Massacre. Mulliken’s engraving was actually a copy of a Paul Revere engraving, which itself was a plagiarized work from a Henry Pelham broadside. But the event is considered to be the first violent encounter of the American Revolution, and the publications were part of the subsequent propaganda battle.

French artist Gaston Hoffmann (1883-1960) must have had a great sense of humor. He produced a series of works depicting a satirical view of the French court system. At least four of them showed a triumvirate of justices at their comic worst, attempting to adjudicate a case as they are presented evidence by a woman who strips naked in court, and the judges react with horror, indignation, and plain old bug-eyed lust. I located three such paintings, and the fourth appears to be the work offered here. The 18" x 21½" oil painting seemed to be illustrating the same case, or at least a similar situation, as the judges struggled to maintain their attention and their composure. Presumably, this was before the woman undressed. The lighthearted work produced $690. Judgment is for the buyer. Next case.

For more information, visit (www.hapmoore.com) or call (207) 363-6373.

Shallow diorama of two racing vessels, the painting signed lower left “T.B. Morgan,” $2070.

A pair of silvered bronze and crystal candelabra (one shown) was combined with an enameled and painted Continental shelf clock to make a de facto garniture set. The clock, with four painted cameo panels on a domed top resembling a cathedral roof, and dripping with ormolu, drove the set to $2990.


Originally published in the February 2015 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2015 Maine Antique Digest

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