The Singh Sale of Americana

January 25th, 2020

Sotheby’s, New York City

by Lita Solis-Cohen

Photos courtesy Sotheby’s

Dr. Arun Singh was born in India in 1944, overcame childhood hand injuries and undiagnosed dyslexia, and went to medical school. When he traveled to America in 1967 to continue his studies, he had only a few dollars in his pocket, and by the time he arrived in Massachusetts, he had only 25¢ left. He became a heart surgeon, training at Columbia University College of Physician and Surgeons, Brown University, the Rhode Island Hospital, and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London.

He married a nurse named Barbara, and they settled in Providence, Rhode Island, where they raised two boys. During his more than 40-year career, Singh performed more than 15,000 open heart surgeries on infants and adults as well as 5000 related procedures. He retired from teaching at Brown University and operating at Rhode Island Hospital in 2016, and now he teaches physician assistants at Bryant University. In his book Your Heart, My Hands, published last year, he tells stories about his life and his patients.

The sale of the Americana collection of Arun and Barbara Singh at Sotheby’s on January 25 was titled “Triumphant Grace,” with the code name “HEART.” It told the story of a couple who had a very good time collecting and who made very good friends while filling their house with American furniture, folk art, and China trade porcelains and paintings with the help of dealer Marguerite Riordan and her husband, Arthur, who became part of their family.

Arun Singh spoke about his career and collecting on January 21 at Sotheby’s fifth annual all-day series of lectures, which has become a tradition during Americana Week. Arun and Barbara Singh were available in the galleries afterward to talk about the things they loved—portraits of children, some who did not survive to adulthood, and one who grew up to be a doctor, and New England furniture that they had used. They slept in antique beds and put their clothes in antique chests, sat on antique chairs, and used their Canton china for dinner parties. They collected China trade paintings of the ports visited by traders who brought porcelain back to America.

They loved the hunt, the scholarship, and the people they came to know. Now they have retired, and their two sons and three grandchildren live in New York, so they travel more. They no longer want the responsibility of caring for a large collection. That’s why they sent it to Sotheby’s for sale, knowing that in the present market they would not make a profit and might take a loss. They knew that the market is not as high as it was when they were collecting. They enjoyed owning the collection, but now they want to direct some of the proceeds of its sale to the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, which develops schools in rural India for underprivileged children.

Erik Gronning, head of Sotheby’s Americana department, said the Singhs were pleased with the response to the sale. Popular with collectors and dealers, the sale was well attended, and there was plenty of bidding on two platforms, Sotheby’s platform and Invaluable. There was also advance bidding, now listed in the online catalog, which is a new feature at Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

The total came to $3,002,375 (with buyers’ premiums) for 198 of the 227 lots offered (87.2% sold by lot). The Singhs will get more than two dozen pieces back, including their beds.

The most competitive bidding was for China trade paintings. Kee Il Choi Jr. gave an illuminating talk, “A Sense of Place: Chinese Export Landscape Paintings,” at the January 21 seminar in which he equated Chinese artists’ panoramic views with those painted by Giovanni Antonio Canaletto in Venice a century earlier. A large panoramic view of Macao, attributed to Sunqua, circa 1850, sold online for $112,500 (est. $30,000/50,000). View of Hong Kong from the Harbor, 1860s, sold to another online bidder for $68,750 (est. $15,000/25,000). View of the Hongs at Canton by Sunqua, 1830s, sold for $62,500 (est. $30,000/50,000) to Delaware dealer James Kilvington in the salesroom, bidding for a client.

View of the Hongs at Canton by Sunqua, late 1830s, signed on lower right, oil on canvas, depicting a panorama of the western factories (hongs) flying French, American, British, and Dutch flags, with a busy harbor scene of Chinese junks and a small rowing boat flying the American flag, in a Chinese gilt and black-lacquer frame, 17?" x 22?", sold for $62,500 (est. $30,00/50,000) in the salesroom to Delaware dealer James Kilvington for a client.

Some folk portraits were in demand, but few brought as much as they sold for at the top of the market. The portraits of Junia Loretta Bartlett and her brother Levi Stevens Bartlett sold for $106,250 (est. $50,000/80,000) on the phone to Pennsylvania dealer David Wheatcroft for a client. At the 1994 sale of the collection of Bertram and Nina Fletcher Little, they had each sold for $85,000—$170,000 for the pair. Wheatcroft said they will go to a collection and thought they were a steal.

Wheatcroft also bought a portrait of a boy in a blue dress, leaning on a fancy chair, playing with a ball and a toy horse, for $47,500 (est. $15,000/25,000). He had less competition for three portraits of the Wood children cataloged as by William Matthew Prior. Wheatcroft said they were by E.W. Blake, another artist in the so-called Prior-Hamblen school. They were his for $62,500 (est. $50,000/70,000).

American school portrait of a boy in a blue dress leaning on a chair, playing with a ball and horse toy, watercolor on paper, probably Nantucket, Massachusetts, circa 1835, 7½" x 6½", sold for $47,500 (est. $15,000/25,000) on the phone to Pennsylvania dealer David Wheatcroft for a client. An extremely similar portrait of Frances Coffin, attributed to the artist Sarah Gardner (1799-1862), is in the collection of Barbara L. Gordon.

Dealer Barbara Pollack paid $45,000 (est. $12,000/15,000) for the Prior-Hamblen school portrait of Harriet Woodbury, circa 1851, 16¼" x 12". Although it was unsigned, she thought it was by William Matthew Prior. She said she had sold it to the Singhs and missed it and was determined to buy it back.

Exeter, New Hampshire, dealer Peter Sawyer bought the portraits of Samuel and Letitia Sloane by Ammi Phillips for $75,000 (est. $50,000/80,000). At a sale in Chester, New York, in January 1996, Marguerite Riordan had bought them for $37,500. The single portrait of Nancy Smith Lamphear by Phillips, 1818-20, sold on the phone for $75,000 (est. $60,000/80,000).

Dealer Leigh Keno, bidding in the salesroom, bought a pair of profile portraits by Ruth Henshaw Bascom for $62,500 (est. $40,000/60,000). He also got three silhouette portraits by Ezra Wood, the Puffy Sleeve Artist, paying $47,500 (est. $12,000/18,000). Wheatcroft said he underbid them. Keno was buying for Marjorie McGraw.

Small portraits bought big prices. A self-portrait of Clarissa Peters (Mrs. Moses B. Russell, 1809-1854) sold on the phone for $68,750 (est. $2000/3000). The same phone bidder bought the next 11 lots—all portraits of children by Mrs. Russell—paying prices ranging from $1500 to $8125. Elle Shushan said she was the bidder on the phone for Marjorie McGraw, who was determined to keep the collection together. Wheatcroft said they were a good buy.

Clarissa Peters (Mrs. Moses B. Russell, 1809-1854), miniature self-portrait, watercolor and gouache on ivory, Boston, Massachusetts, area, circa 1840, 6¼" x 5", together with a fragment of 19th-century paisley fabric matching the sitter’s dress, sold for $68,750 (est. $2000/3000) on the phone. It had sold for $4387.50 at Northeast Auctions on August 2, 2008.

Fire buckets sold for more than expected. A paint-decorated leather bucket from the Adroit Fire Club, Salem, Massachusetts, 1820, with the name of John Masury and a burning house painted on it sold for $40,000 (est. $8000/12,000) to Pennsylvania collector Dr. Bob Booth, whose five-year-old granddaughter raised the paddle. There are two other similar fire buckets known at the Peabody Essex Museum. A pair of paint-decorated leather fire buckets with “Union Fire Society, Esto Perpetua [May You Endure Forever] / S. Trask [Samuel Trask] / 1803” and hands enclosing a heart were made for the Union Fire Society in Portland, Maine. “A. Fitz” for Aaron Fitz, the maker, was impressed into the leather. They sold together with a silhouette of Samuel Trask, dated April 15, 1811, for $22,500 (est. $10,000/15,000) to Massachusetts dealer Grace Snyder, who had sold them to the Singhs.

The furniture market is at a more reasonable level. A carved cherrywood bonnet-top high chest of drawers made in Colchester, Connecticut, circa 1775, that sold for $200,000 (est. $150,000/300,000) was the most expensive piece of furniture in the Singh sale and the second most expensive of the week, topped only by the Duncan Phyfe worktable that sold for $212,500 (est. $25,000/35,000) at Christie’s. The buyer of the chest-on-chest was Seth Thayer, a Maine broker who advises and bids for collectors. A Philadelphia chest-on-chest in Sotheby’s various-owners sale sold for only $112,500 (est. $100,000/150,000).

Chippendale carved cherrywood bonnet-top high chest, Colchester, Connecticut, circa 1775, 82?" x 39¾" x 21", sold for $200,000 (est. $150,000/300,000) to Lincolnville, Maine, broker Seth Thayer in the salesroom. At Christie’s in June 1998, it had sold for $387,500 (est. $100,000/150,000) to Marguerite Riordan. It displays many details that follow the work of Calvin Willey (1769-after 1831), a cabinetmaker who was trained in Colchester, Connecticut, and moved to Lenox, Massachusetts, by 1791. It is discussed in Thomas and Alice Kugelman and Robert Lionetti’s 2005 book Connecticut Valley Furniture: Eliphalet Chapin and His Contemporaries, 1750-1800.

Most of the Singh furniture sold within estimates; there were some exceptions. A carved black-painted banister-back armchair with a rush seat sold for $30,000 (est. $5000/8000). A set of six Rhode Island shield-back side chairs went for $47,500 (est. $10,000/15,000). Two collectors wanted a red-stained Connecticut desk-on-frame; it sold for $21,250 (est. $8000/12,000). A cherrywood serpentine chest of drawers with the graphite signature of Calvin Willey, Lenox, Massachusetts, sold to a collector in the salesroom for $32,500 (est. $20,000/30,000). The collector said he would take it back to Lenox. A Colchester, Connecticut, chest-on-chest from the Samuel Loomis shop, circa 1780, brought the same price, $32,500 (est. $30,000/50,000).

The pictures and captions tell more. The catalog with prices realized is online at (www.sothebys.com).

Ammi Phillips (1788-1865), oil on canvas of Nancy Smith Lamphear of Troy, New York, 1818-20, 30" x 24½", sold for $75,000 (est. $60,000/80,000) on the phone. At Skinner on March 24, 1983, this portrait had sold for $23,000 to Marguerite Riordan.

John Brewster Jr. (1766-1854), pair of portraits of Junia Loretta Bartlett and Levi Stevens Bartlettof Kingston, New Hampshire, oil on canvas, May 28, 1821, each 24¾" x 21", sold for $106,250 (est. $50,000/80,000) on the phone to Pennsylvania dealer David Wheatcroft. The paintings are signed and dated on the top stretcher in pencil, “John Brewster Jr. pinxt. May 28 1821 / 11 years old” and “Painted May 16 1821 / 9 years 5 months 14 days old / JB. Jr.,” respectively, and on the side stretchers in a later hand. They are further inscribed in pencil on the side stretcher in another hand, respectively “Junia Loretta Bartlett, who married F.O.J. Smith, Portland Maine” and “Painted by John Brewster Jr. 1821.” Both retain old jelly labels from Nina Fletcher Little. They had each sold for $85,000 (est. $30,000/50,000) at the sale of the Little collection at Sotheby’s in January 1994. Portraits of their parents, Levi and Abigail Bartlett, are at Colonial Williamsburg. Brewster painted five members of the Bartlett family, descendants of Josiah Bartlett, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of New Hampshire 1790-94.

Carved wood eagle plaque, Chinese export for the American market, late 19th century, the center carved in high relief with a large front-facing spread-wing American eagle, its mouth holding a blue ribbon, one foot clasping five arrows with its talons and the other foot resting on a shield with stars and stripes among wave motifs, flanked by four pole-mounted American flags and a cannon with cannon balls on each side, all underneath a flowing ribbon carved and inscribed with “IN GOD WE TRUST,” the border carved with blossoming branches reserved with Chinese figural cartouches, 18" long, sold for $43,750 (est. $20,000/30,000). At Sotheby’s on June 1993, it had sold for $27,600 on the phone to Marguerite Riordan. This plaque is more finely carved than the other three or four known. One is illustrated in Carl L. Crossman’s The Decorative Arts of the China Trade (1991), p. 312.

Federal inlaid and figured mahogany tall-case clock, works by Simon Willard, Roxbury, Massachusetts, circa 1795, original surface, cast brass finials, pendulum, keys, and weights, 94" x 20½" x 9¾", with a Gary Sullivan provenance, sold on the phone for $68,750 (est. $30,000/50,000). The eight-day movement is Willard’s most expensive and finest.

American school needlework picture in memory of George and Martha Washington, watercolor on silk with wool and silk threads, circa 1820, 14½" x 20", églomisé mat titled IN MEMORY OF GEN. GEO. WASHINGTON, in very good condition, sold for $10,625 (est. $8000/12,000). In January 2012 it had sold at the sale of the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ott for $23,750 to dealer Clark Pearce.

John Masury’s Adroit Fire Club paint-decorated fire bucket, Salem, Massachusetts, 1820, inscribed “Adroit Fire Club / Delay Not / John Masury,” 19" high, sold for $40,000 (est. $8000/12,000) to Pennsylvania collector Dr. Bob Booth, who let his five-year-old granddaughter raise his paddle. In August 1992 at Northeast Auctions, it had sold to Marguerite Riordan for $24,200. There are two other similar fire buckets known at the Peabody Essex Museum, and another is illustrated by Israel Sack in American Antiques, Volume 2, p. 296.

Federal mahogany, giltwood, and églomisé-paneled patent timepiece, works by Job Wilbour, case possibly by John Young, Newport, Rhode Island, circa 1823, with original gilding and finial, the dial indistinctly inscribed “J.B. Wilbour Newport,” the lower painted panel inscribed “The Constitution’s Escape,” 41" x 10" x 3¾", sold on the phone for $32,500 (est. $25,000/50,000). At Christie’s in January 1998, it had sold for $57,500 to Robert Cheney.

Two phone bidders competed for these Ammi Phillips (1788-1865)portraits of Samuel and Letitia Sloane, New York, circa 1825, each 30" x 24". They sold for $75,000 (est. $50,000/80,000) on the phone to dealer Peter Sawyer of Exeter, New Hampshire. In January 1996 at a sale in Chester, New York, Marguerite Riordan had bought them for $37,500. According to David Allaway in My People: The Works of Ammi Phillips,Samuel and Letitiaare brother and sister, born in 1801 and 1804 respectively. Letitia married William Chapman circa 1835. Their daughter Catherine, born in 1842, went on to marry John Cornell, nephew of Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, according to Sotheby’s catalog.

Attributed to Joseph Whiting Stock (1815-1855), this oil on canvas laid on board portrait of a young girl in pink dress holding a doll’s fruit basket and standing on an ingrain carpet, with a doll and cat toy in a basket on the floor, circa 1838, 36" x 29", sold for $50,000 (est. $40,000/60,000). At Sotheby’s in January 2009, the Singhs had bought it for $68,000.

Ezra Wood, the Puffy Sleeve Artist (active 1830-31), group of three hollow-cut silhouette portraits with watercolor on paper mounted over black, circa 1830, each 5¼" x 4½", inscribed on the reverse of the baby’s portrait “Clarisa Anna Munson, Brattleboro, VT,” each set in a pressed brass frame, sold for $47,500 (est. $12,000/18,000) to Leigh Keno in the salesroom, underbid on the phone by David Wheatcroft. At Sotheby’s in January 2011 this group had sold for $31,250 (est. $8500/12,000). The Puffy Sleeve Artist was Ezra Wood of Buckland, Massachusetts. Wood was born in 1798 and likely learned the art of making silhouettes from his father-in-law, silhouette artist Josiah Fuller. Wood was identified by Michael R. Payne, Suzanne Rudnick Payne, and Samuel Herrup in a July/August 2014 The Magazine Antiques article.

Prior-Hamblen school, Harriet Woodbury, oil on board, circa 1851, 16¼" x 12", inscribed on the reverse “Harriet Woodbury older sister of Emma Woodbury Rand Painted about 1851.” With a Frank and Barbara Pollack provenance, it sold for $45,000 (est. $12,000/15,000) back to Barbara Pollack in the salesroom.

Federal carved giltwood and mahogany églomisé-paneled presentation patent timepiece, works by Simon Willard (1753-1848), eagle carving possibly by Samuel McIntire (1757-1811), Roxbury, Massachusetts, circa 1815, bottom panel with an early applied sticker “27,” 41" x 10½" x 4", sold in the salesroom for $37,500 (est. $30,000/50,000).

Full-bodied molded copper and zinc weathervane of a stag leaping over a shrub, Harris & Co., Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1880, 26" x 31¾" x 10", sold for $50,000 (est. $40,000/60,000). In January 2005 it had sold for $114,000 (est. $30,000/50,000) to Marguerite Riordan.

Ruth Henshaw Bascom (1772-1848), pair of profile portraits, pastel and pencil on paper, circa 1835, 18?" x 13¼", the woman on layered paper, both appearing to retain their original frames. They sold in the salesroom for $62,500 (est. $40,000/60,000) to Leigh Keno, underbid by Barbara Pollack, who had exhibited them at the Winter Antiques Show in 2004.

Pair of Chippendale carved mahogany compass-seat side chairs, attributed to John Townsend, Newport, Rhode Island, circa 1770, with chair and seat frames marked II and VII, 38" high, sold for $52,500 (est. $30,000/50,000) to Massachusetts dealer Gary Sullivan. These chairs had sold to Marguerite Riordan for $19,800 at the sale of the Ricketson collection at Northeast Auctions in May 1993. They are illustrated and discussed in Patricia E. Kane’s Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650-1830 (2016). A pair of similar chairs sold at Christie’s in January 2018 for $150,000 (est. $30,000/50,000). Four other chairs from the set are known as the only examples of cabriole-leg chairs firmly ascribed to Townsend and are used as a basis of other attributions. Their heft illustrates Townsend’s mature style.

Federal paint-decorated and figured birchwood scallop-top worktable, New Hampshire, circa 1800, appearing to retain its original surface and hardware, 28" x 16?" x 16", sold for $18,750 (est.$8000/12,000). It had sold at Christie’s sale of the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Bertram Coleman in January 1998 for $36,800.

James Bard (1815-1897), The Albany, watercolor and gouache on paper, 1880, 21½" x 46½", signed “J. BARD NY 1880,” Hirschl & Adler label on back, sold for $56,250 (est. $50,000/80,000). It had sold at Skinner in September 2002 for $70,500. There were a lot of Bard paintings for sale in New York City in January, and this was the one that sold.

Panoramic View of Macao, attributed to Sunqua, circa 1850, oil on canvas, depicting the view of Macao from Lapa Island, with the Penha hill on the left extending through Fort Guia on the right, showing the Palacio, the governor’s residence, and Fort Monte, the foreground with a two-masted yacht flying the American flag among Chinese and western boats, in a Chinese gilt and black-lacquer wood frame (not shown), 16¼" x 55", sold online for $112,500 (est. $30,000/50,000), underbid by London dealer Martyn Gregory in the salesroom. At the sale of the Little collection in January 1994, it had sold for $68,500. It is mentioned in Carl Crossman’s The Decorative Arts of the China Trade (1991) but is not illustrated.

Stamp and punch-decorated black and red leather key basket, probably Richmond, Virginia, circa 1800, with the initials “O.B.P.” and acorns, hearts, leaves, stars, flowers, and diamond-shaped lozenges, with red interior and heart-shaped handle termini, 7½" x 8" x 6", sold for $10,000 (est. $5000/8000) to an advance bidder. At Sotheby’s in January 2002, it was estimated at $8000/10,000 and failed to sell, and it was apparently bought by Marguerite Riordan after the sale.

Chippendale carved and punch-decorated cherrywood bonnet-top chest-on-chest, Samuel Loomis shop tradition, probably Colchester, Connecticut, circa 1780, appearing to retain its original finials, 83" x 42¼" x 20", sold on the phone for $32,500 (est. $30,000/50,000).

Chippendale carved and figured cherrywood serpentine chest, signed by Calvin Willey, made in Lenox, Massachusetts, after he learned his trade in the Colchester area of Connecticut, circa 1790, retaining its original hardware, with two graphite inscriptions “Calvin Wyley” to the inside of the top drawer bottom and to the inside of the third drawer back, the stamp “Jessie Mace” on the side of a drawer, 33½" x 38¼" x 22¾", sold to a collector in the salesroom for $32,500 (est. $20,000/30,000). It had sold at Robert Herron Auctions, Austerlitz, New York, in May 1997, and it is mentioned Connecticut Valley Furniture: Eliphalet Chapin and His Contemporaries, 1750-1800 (2005).

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