From ornately carved furniture by R.J. Horner to fine art, Kennedy’s Auction Service’s June 2 auction of the Carl Smith estate in the central garden district of Memphis, Tenn., had it all, but it was two ladies, each standing less than two feet tall, that drew the most attention. In a case of East meets West, the two figures, one from North Carolina, the other from China, brought a lot of presale attention and sold well. All prices reported include a 13 percent buyer’s premium.
A rare Moravian pottery flask in the form of a standing woman in a green dress, holding a bouquet of posies, crossed the block for $28,600. The circa 1811 piece is believed to have been made in the shop of Rudolph Christ (1750-1833) in Salem, N.C., who was renowned among Salem potters from 1789 to 1821.
The figure descended in the family of a West Tennessee historian and collector. A smaller example of this flask is in the collection of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Winston Salem, N.C.
The flask was in surprisingly good condition. The consignor found it laying outside in the grass at her grandmother’s house in 1990 in Collierville, Tenn., noted auctioneer Mark Kennedy. “They were cleaning out her grandmother’s house, and she found it in the backyard. She kept it for 25 years before deciding to sell, and it survived years of sitting on a shelf in the TV room around children playing,” said Kennedy. While the flask elicited bidding online and on the phone, it ended up going to an appreciative local buyer.
The second lady featured in the sale was a late 19th- to early 20th-century Xu Yunlin Dehua figure of a guanyin in blanc de chine, which fetched $23,100 from a Chinese buyer. The hooded bodhisattva was standing on a base and featured an animated koi fish emerging from circulating waves. The robe-clad figure holding a scroll is embellished with Buddhist jewelry. It is marked with the seal of Xu Yunlin (aka Xu Youyi) and a Dehua seal mark.
The sale overall was deemed a success and had a total of 1,365 registered bidders. “We were quite pleased with how the auction performed. Phone and internet bidding was very active, but in-house bidding was also strong. This auction was very wide-ranging, which helped drive a lot of interest. Our sales are usually quite diverse with offerings to appeal to many kinds of collectors,” stated Kennedy.
The top lot of the auction was an R.J. Horner mahogany grandfather clock with J.J. Elliott nine-tube works that attained $90,750 from an in-house buyer. Retaining its original finish, the 118.5-inch-tall clock’s silvered dial was signed “Elliott London,” and a retailers plaque read, “Muhr’s Sons Philadelphia.” The clock had standing mermaids flanking the glass door and was profusely carved with winged griffins, pierced carved angel crest, flowers, foliage and birds.
The parade of R.J Horner (1854-1922) furniture across the block continued with a 12-piece dining suite, with its pieces auctioned separately. A determined phone bidder bought every lot, in order to keep the suite together. A figural maiden carved china cabinet, circa 1890, led the grouping at $12,430. The pieces in the suite sold for a combined total of $42,650.
Lighting up the auction was a Tiffany Tulip lamp shade marked “Tiffany Studios” on the interior lower edge that was put on a circa 1915 lamp base (not Tiffany). It sold for $24,860. The family who owned it, according to Kennedy, had not realized they had an authentic Tiffany shade.
Fine art offerings ranged from paintings to sculpture, highlighted by an oil-on-canvas attributed to Nicolao Landucci (1801-68) titled “The Gladiator,” which brought $6,497. The mid-19th-century painting, measuring 40-by-63.5 inches, depicts a gladiator’s entrance into the Coliseum in ancient Rome to the cheers and jeers of the crowd while his opponent awaits him with trident and iaculum.
The sale was rich in historical significance, and a Robert E. Lee Memorial engraved portrait, circa 1870, did well at $3,960. The 20-by-24-inch portrait contained in an Aesthetic Movement gold frame was inscribed “Sold by Authority of the Lee Memorial Association for the erection of a monument at the tomb of Genl. R. E. Lee at the Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Virginia.”
Another standout in this category was a May 1936 Hindenburg archive that included a telegram, two brochures, and three postcards sent to a couple in Memphis, which sold for $700. The postcards are stamped with German airmail stamps featuring swastikas and airships as well as the Hindenburg postmark. Postcards state that 21 passengers were on board.
Rounding out the auction were a pair of French Louis XV-style 19th century bronze and ormolu ten-light candelabras that sold for $4,802, a pair of giant clam shells weighing 94 pounds that each made $3,503, and a gentleman’s presentation cane with an engraved gold cap, presented in 1906 to a Tennessee rector, that went for $960.
Kennedy’s Auction Service is based in Selmer, Tenn.
For more information, call 731-645-5001 or visit www.kennedysauction.com.