Massive Three-Day Sale At Pook & Pook Slated For Sept. 25, 26, And 27 Pennsylvania German Decorative Art Offerings Are Exceptional
By Cynthia Beech Lawrence - October 05, 2024
Pook & Pook will hold its largest Americana and International sale in the companys history, spread over three days, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Sept. 25, 26, and 27. The sale features important single-owner collections and various items from private collectors and institutions. Day one will encompass two collections. The first is the folk art collection of Albion P. Fenderson of Modesto, Calif. Al and Florence Fenderson were avid collectors in Southeastern Pennsylvania before moving to California in the 1960s. The quality of the Fenderson collection folk art is exceptional. Paintings include a pair of William Matthew Prior husband and wife portraits, a colorful Samuel Miller portrait of a boy in a red dress with a hobby horse, and a rare Isaac W. Nuttman still life with a bird and an abundance of fruit. A rare Samuel Folwell Philadelphia watercolor silhouette of the Reverend Absolom Jones is of historical importance. The first of several in the sale, a Wilhelm Schimmel spread wing eagle is outstanding for its vibrant original paint and size. The expected highlight is a fraktur by the Sussel-Washington Artist. This vibrantly colored fraktur is possibly the finest example known attributed to this rare early fraktur artist. Pook & Pook is honored to present the finest and most comprehensive collection of American pewter in history, the collection of Dr. Melvyn and Bette Wolf of Flint, Mich. The foremost of many highlights is an important Philadelphia William Will coffee pot, which is considered to be one of the finest pieces of American pewter in existence. Other rare pieces include the only Robert Bonnynge church cup in private hands, a Semper Eadem quart tankard, a Frederick Bassett egg-shaped teapot, and a Johann Heyne ciborium. The Wolfs love of Americana went beyond pewter and included New England furniture, decorative arts, and folk art paintings. A few to mention are an exceptional set of ten Pennsylvania painted treenware lidded canisters, a collection of New England burl bowls, and fine folk art paintings, including two Hudson River landscapes attributed to Thomas Chambers. A Maryland theme is found in a Historic Blue collection featuring a Baltimore tea service and pieces in the rare Arms of Maryland pattern. A rare pair of Thurmont, Md., redware vases is attributed to James Mackley, and a Thurmont planter is inscribed Jacob Lynn Pottery and dated May 18, 1845. Additional day one Americana material will be a copper lamb weathervane, fraktur, a pair of Pennsylvania flame grain painted doors, a Pennsylvania Chippendale cherry tall chest, and a large Pennsylvania folk art carved kangaroo from the Ralph Esmerian collection. Day two begins with the collection of Rebecca Roberts of York, Pa. Furniture includes a blanket chest with vibrant paint decoration by William Heindel and tall case clocks signed Jacob Spangler and Peter Schutz Urmacher. Textiles include samplers, needlework, and quilts. Featured coin silver is by Godfrey Lenhart. There are many fraktur, including York County examples by Francis Portzline, Daniel Peterman, and Adam Wertz. Among the Jacob Maentel watercolor portraits are York County residents. Other Pennsylvania furniture includes a Lancaster corner cupboard and a Northampton County painted pine dower chest. Roberts also had a keen interest in Bellarmine and Westerwald stoneware; the collection spans the 17th and 18th centuries. Next up are 38 lots of American glass, including a Stiegel type deep amethyst flask, and many with provenance from illustrious collectors such as Walter Douglas, Lowell Innes, and John Tiffany Gotjen, the latter including a New York blown aquamarine lily pad compote. The first group of great weathervanes from a prominent Washington, D.C., collection includes a swell-bodied copper bull; a cast-iron horse, probably Rochester Iron Works; a sheet copper hound dog attributed to Howard & Co., West Bridgewater, Mass.; and a full-bodied copper stork, ca. 1900, attributed to J.W. Fiske & Co., among others. A New Jersey collection features four colorful antique barber poles. An Ohio collection has a very fine Philadelphia broderie perse chintz applique friendship quilt. Furniture highlights of the day include a Chester County, Pa., tall case clock with works signed Ellis Chandlee Nottingham and a graceful Bermuda Queen Anne cedar blanket chest. Great painted furniture includes a Pennsylvania blue painted hard pine schrank, ca. 1770, a diminutive Mahantongo Valley school masters hanging desk, a Virginia dower chest, and a Berks County blanket chest attributed to Jacob Blatt, with original salmon fan and circle paint decoration. Fraktur include works by David Cordier, Rev. Henry Young, and an outstanding Daniel Otto. Stoneware includes a rare water cooler impressed Wells & Richards, Reading, Berks Co. Pa., and a Reading, Pa., mug impressed John G. Slocker 1895, with underside inscribed Harry Zerby. Day three begins with the collection of Walter Pyle Smith and Jeannette Chaffee Smith of Gettysburg, Pa. The Smiths life-long love of antiques resulted in an exceptional collection of Pennsylvania German decorative arts. One of many highlights is a Compass Artist paint-decorated dome lid box retaining its original rare salmon surface. Not to be missed are two Jonas Weber painted pine dresser boxes and two Wilhelm Schimmel spread wing eagles. Other carvings include an Aaron Mountz large bird. The Smiths also collected redware, including a Southeastern Pennsylvania sgraffito charger dated 1811 with eagle decoration, a Snow Hill Nunnery bowl, a Solomon Bell, Strasburg, Va. mixing bowl, and two large Hagerstown, Md., bowls, one possibly from the Bell family. A menagerie of redware spaniels, poodles, lions, and birds includes a dog holding a fruit basket attributed to Jesiah Shorb. A Bristol County, Mass., bean pot is one of several items with a Dr. and Mrs. Donald A. Shelley provenance. A pair of North Carolina Moravian redware squirrel bottles is attributed to Rudolph Christ of Salem. The Smiths Pyle and Wyeth heritage is evident in artworks by Howard Pyle in watercolor, oil, and ink, and an Ann Wyeth McCoy watercolor. Rounding out the collection are works by Edward Moran and Frank Earle Schoonover. The fine art category opens with Taos Art Colony co-founder Ernest Blumenschein and his landscape Autumn with Storm. A panorama of landscapes includes several by Maryland/Washington, D.C., painter John Ross Key, a Max Weyl D.C. landscape The Little River, Georgetown, a Jack Wilkinson Smith California coastal scene, a Peter Sculthorpe watercolor on paper of a moonlit winter homestead, and a Gladys Young street scene. There are also three works by Ben Austrian. Modern art highlights include a Carl Milles bronze Bird of Prey, a Louise Nevelson plaque City Sunscape, a Jasper Johns screenprint in colors The Dutch Wives, and a Wolf Kahn pastel Spring Barn. From a Washington, D.C., collection comes an item of historical importance: a series of Civil War ledgers by William B. Stark of Egremont, Mass., with detailed entries and elaborate drawings of battles and camps. A rare grouping of 26 lots of 15th through 18th century European copper alloy candlesticks includes North West Gothic and rare Three Kings examples and English candlesticks including rare bell base and very rare Gothic examples. To learn more about previewing, online or in person bidding, call 610-269-4040 or visit www.pookandpook.com.
SHARE
PRINT