The December Auction

December 6th, 2015

Grogan & Company, Boston, Massachusetts

Fine art and jewelry are frequently areas of blurred distinction. Both are mainstays at Grogan and Company’s auction gallery in Boston, and neither disappointed at the December 6, 2015, sale where a fine 18" long silver necklace by Alexander Calder (1898-1976) brought $109,800 (includes buyer’s premium). Calder made the necklace for his great-niece Nanette Calder Sexton, who died in February 2015 and left it to a friend, who consigned it to auction. It went to the New York trade. Another sparkler was a 16½" long platinum and diamond necklace set with round brilliant, marquise, and full-cut diamonds, having an approximate weight of 45 carats, that sold for $31,720. It came from the collection of New York City artist Lynn Chase.

The 18" long silver necklace by Alexander Calder (1898-1976) brought $109,800 from a New York dealer. Calder made the necklace for his great-niece Nanette Calder Sexton. Grogan photo.

Grogan sales are very much a family affair. Michael is president and chief auctioneer, Nancy is vice president, and their daughter Lucy is vice president and gallery director. Between auctions in their new quarters on Beacon Hill, the Grogans have turned gallery space over to exhibitions of the work of neighborhood artists. The events are labor intensive and are predicated on space and the Grogan auction schedule, so they are not scheduled regularly.

An 1844 portrait of John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, March 4, 1825, to March 4, 1829, by George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879) brought $48,800 from a phone bidder. The 10" x 7¾" oil on panel is thought to have been produced during six sittings in May 1844. It was presented by the artist to Missouri politician James Sidney Rollins, whose portrait Bingham also painted. The picture descended in the Rollins family. Bingham made two other portraits of Adams in 1850, copies of this example, which are at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Detroit Institute of Arts. The successful bidder was a dealer.

This 1844 portrait of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, was made during six sittings in May 1844 by George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879). It brought $48,800 from a dealer on the phone.

Wall Street Winter, a snowy oil on canvasboard view with Trinity Church in the distance, 15¾" x 12", by Guy Carleton Wiggins (1883-1962) was signed and titled. It fetched $48,800. Another snow scene was Snowy Road, a 25" x 34¼" oil on canvas by Robert Emmett Owen (1878-1957) that came from a Connecticut collection and brought $3965 online.

Wall Street Winter by Guy Carleton Wiggins (1883-1962) was signed and titled and brought $48,800.

Edwin Walter Dickinson (1891-1978) was known for portraits, but his 1940 oil on canvas depicted Cape Cod Bay—View Toward Dennis; 13¼" x 24", it was signed and dated. From a Boston estate and estimated at $4000/6000, it sold for $10,370.

Heart of the Jungle, a 30" x 36" oil on canvas view of two women, two snarling tigers, and an elephant by Orville Bulman (1904-1978) brought $14,640, and his oil on board paintings Flying Tiger, 7" x 5", and Lion, 5" x 4", sold online for $5795. Bulman’s 1976 oil on board Hot Prop, 8" x 10", was signed, dated, and inscribed to a friend whose boat was called Hot Prop. It realized $4270.

Heart of the Jungle, this 30" x 36" oil on canvas view of two women, two snarling tigers, and an elephant by Orville Bulman (1904-1978), brought $14,640. Grogan photo.

Salon de Belleza by Colombian artist Guillermo Silva Santamaria (1921-2007) is a 1957 Surrealist oil on canvas, 32" x 43½", executed in Mexico. Estimated at $1000/1500, it sold for $3660.

Fine silver more than held its own, particularly when the maker was Tiffany. A silver and gold quartz paperweight, 2" high x 3?" wide x 4¾" long, made by Tiffany & Company for John Pierpont Morgan brought $27,450 (est. $10,000/15,000). The paperweight was monogramed and dated 1895 and came from an Indiana collection. A 340-piece Tiffany & Company flatware service, 408.5 troy ounces, in the English King pattern had been monogrammed but still managed to sell for $19,520.

A S. Kirk & Son, Inc. repoussé tea service on a tray with a raised family crest including a kettle on stand, a teapot, a covered sugar, an open waste bowl, and a cream pot, 312 troy ounces, sold for $13,420. A Theodore B. Starr coffee and tea service with a kettle on stand, a coffeepot, a teapot, a covered sugar, a creamer, a waste bowl, a covered tea caddy, and a water pitcher, 154 troy ounces, fetched $4574. Catalog notes suggest that while the original heat diffusers had been removed, they may be available to the purchaser.

A handful of Asian buyers who sat patiently through the first 294 lots of the sale gave a clue that several important Chinese objects were coming up. And they were—particularly a group of scroll paintings that descended in the Quincy Adams Shaw II family of Boston.

An ink and watercolor painting on Chinese silk, 11 3/8" x 7½", of a woman by Fu Baoshi (1904-1965), estimated at $1000/1500, brought a gratifying $42,700. The image retained the artist’s seal and calligraphy. A Chinese silk scroll painting of bees and crickets hovering around a vase of chrysanthemums sold for $36,600 (est. $1000/2000). The ink and watercolor scroll with calligraphy and four seals, 37½" x 11½", may have been painted by Qi Baishi (1864-1957). An ink and watercolor scroll painting of 12 donkeys, 49½" x 13½", by Huang Zhou (1925-1997) fetched $13,420 (est. $1000/2000).

This ink and watercolor painting on Chinese silk of a woman by Fu Baoshi (1904-1965) brought a gratifying $42,700 (est. $1000/1500). Grogan photo.

This Chinese silk scroll painting of bees and crickets hovering around a vase of chrysanthemums sold for $36,600 (est. $1000/2000). Grogan photo.

This ink and watercolor scroll painting of 12 donkeys by Huang Zhou (1925-1997) fetched $13,420 (est. $1000/2000). Grogan photo.

A Chinese silk robe with eight five-clawed dragons amid clouds on a yellow ground realized $10,370. A Chinese blue silk robe had some damage but managed to exceed its estimate and sold for $1342 (est. $400/600).

A group of carved Chinese cinnabar vessels including four teabowls, four footed wine cups, and three bowls, deaccessioned by the Newport, Rhode Island, public library, sold for $9760 (est. $600/800).

This Chinese bronze pot with gold splash, 6¾" x 3½", weighing three pounds, sold for $20,740. It descended from the collection of industrialist and collector Sir Leon Bagrit. Grogan photo.

Grogan offered a few furniture lots including an 18th-century French Provincial fruitwood three-drawer commode that realized $3355 and a 19th-century Biedermeier inlaid and figured birchwood writing table with a single turned stretcher that made $3294. A Chippendale cherry bowfront chest, circa 1800, with four graduated drawers, original brasses, and inlay came from a Newport, Rhode Island, estate and sold above estimate for $2196.

For more information, go to (www.groganco.com) or call (617) 720-2020.

Boerderij, a Dutch oil on canvas of a farm landscape with a pond and a windmill in the distance, 24" x 36", by Cornelis Vreedenburgh (1880-1946) sold on the phone for $33,550 (est. $5000/10,000). The picture is illustrated in Lexicon Nederlandse Beeldende Kunstenaars, 1750-1880 by Pieter A. Scheen.

This oil on canvas portrait of the clipper Surprise, 28" x 36", by Frank Vining Smith (1879-1967) fetched $10,980, double the high estimate. The clipper was built in East Boston, Massachusetts, in 1850, and the painting came from a Newport, Rhode Island, collection.

An auction surprise was this naive 19th-century 20½" x 29" oil on canvas, The Whale Fishery: ‘Laying On,’ which was estimated at $500/1000 and sold for $9150. Catalog notes indicate that the painting is based on the 1852 Currier & Ives lithograph of the same name.

This 1951 woodcut by Gustave Baumann (1881-1971), Processional, 13" x 12¾", signed and dated, sold online for $10,980. The image came from an area collection.

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