antique furniture

Rare Dressoir Dates Back Over 400 Years

The striking piece above comes with an equally striking price tag. M.S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans is selling this amazing dressoir or sideboard which was created over 425 years ago during the Francis-I period.

The 16th-century sideboard is similar to one that is in the Frick Collection. In a blog post Bill Rau of M.S. Rau Antiques says that Henry Clay Frick bought the mate to this piece in 1917 paying $110,000 for it at the time, an astronomical sum at the time. This beautifully carved piece is walnut with an oak interior and is comparable to other pieces that are in museums around the world. Four ornately carved chimeras stand sentinel on the edges of the sideboard. A piece like this would be used in a dining hall to display and store the silver, linen and other items used in formal dinner services. It measures 71 3/4" wide x 23 1/2" deep x 65 3/8" high and is priced at $985,000.

Tags: antique furniture, M.S. Rau Antiques

The J.P. Morgan Library, The Ultimate Bibliophile Christmas Gift

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

The Carlton Hobbs gallery in New York is displaying a unique set of furniture, a library that once belonged to J.P. Morgan. The library from the Hotel Gaulin in Dijon, France is attributed to Jerome Marlet and dates from circa 1770. The white and gilt set includes two breakfront bookcase cabinets; a white marble breakfront fire surround with fluted pilaster supports and several smaller pieces of panelling with original Parquet de Versailles oak flooring. The set was acquired in 1922 by J. Pierpont Morgan Jr. and presented by J.P. Morgan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1923. It was loaned to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art around 1950.

The library is on view at the Carlton Hobbs New York gallery, the former Vanderbilt mansion, located at 60 East 93rd Street in New York City it has a for sale price of $3.8 million.

Tags: antique furniture, carlton hobbs gallery, french furniture, jerome marlet, jp morgan

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Tiffany Chair Crowns Decor Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Auctions

New Orleans Auction Galleries is holding its next auction on September 11 and 12 with bidding through Live Auctioneers. The two-day sale features over 900 lots of furniture, fine arts, Asian porcelain, jewelry, silver, glass, books and more. Among the highlights is the important L. C. Tiffany Walnut Roundabout Chair shown at right. Louis Comfort Tiffany was famous for his work in glass but he also designed textiles, furnishings, basically anything for the interior of a home.

The chair, which is dated to circa 1879-1890, is beautifully ornamented. Each stile is capped by a finely carved finial depicting a bear grasping a pumpkin, each finial differently ornamented, centered by an oak- and acorn-carved panel, the arms on bobbin-turned supports, the seat rail adorned with brass studs, raised on square legs with double-knuckled paw feet on glass balls. This striking chair is part of a very small group of seating furniture, armchairs and sidechairs in this form have occasionally surfaced.

The auction listing says that Louis Comfort Tiffany was involved in several furniture and decorating enterprises from 1879 through the following decade, including Associated Artists, active 1879-1883, Tiffany and DeForest, active 1880-1883, and L. C. Tiffany and Company which was created to manufacture furniture and went bankrupt in 1885 while executing the Lyceum Theatre commission in New York. This piece is estimated to sell for $30,000 to $50,000.

Tags: antique furniture, louis comfort tiffany, tiffany

Masterpiece London, A Summer Spectacle Of Art And Antiques

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Events, Art

Last year we learned that London's 75-year-old Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair was no more. Antiques show Masterpiece Fair 2010 London provides a new place to appreciate art and antiques. The fair will take place at the former Chelsea Barracks from June 24-29 2010 and combines fine and decorative art with premium collectors' items. Joining the established founders of Mallett, Ronald Phillips, Apter-Fredericks and Asprey will be 113 exhibitors from around the world, including S.J. Phillips, Linley, Agnew's, Tomasso Brothers, Dickinson, Holland & Holland, Louis XIII and Andrew Bruce & Bordeaux Index.

London's Le Caprice will have a full restaurant on site. Fiskens will be exhibiting an Aston Martin DB4 GT and Coys is offering a £3 million 1932 Bugatti. Jewels and vintage watches, rare books as well as a wide selection of paintings will also be on display.

Thomas Woodham-Smith, Chairman of Masterpiece London, comments: "As June approaches, we are delighted to divulge some of the key highlights that will make Masterpiece London such an exciting and innovative event. Whether you are an established collector or just have an eye for the aesthetic, the Fair will offer an unrivalled array of pieces united by an excellence which lies at the very heart of Masterpiece London."

Check out some of the offerings after the jump.

[via Art Fix Daily]

Tags: antique fair, antique furniture, antiques, antiques fair, art fair, london fashion week

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Keno Auction Sees Record For Rare Chippendale Chest

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Auctions

The first auction from the Leigh Keno's new Keno Auctions house has brought some big results including the sale of one very expensive Chippendale chest. The auction was held last weekend in Stamford, Connecticut and had two sessions. The first part, the collection of H. Robert Leese of Pennsylvania, consisted of 178 lots, all of which sold without reserve. During the second session the James Beekman Chippendale carved mahogany chest of drawers from the shop of Thomas Brookman with carving attributed to Henry Hardcastle came up for bid. Antiques and the Arts reports that this New York chest, circa 1752 was estimated at $200/600,000 but sold for $1.428 million, setting a record for a New York piece of furniture.

The third session on Sunday brought the second highest price in the sale, when the portrait of Anna Brodhead Oliver circa 1743 was sold without reserve to David Schorsch of Woodbury, Connecticut, for $1,118,600. The estimate was just $40/80,000 and the portrait was the property of a descendant of the sitter. Leigh Keno said that the auction brought in a total of $5,818,460 including the buyer's premium but that four major postsale offers pending will boost the total to $6.014 million.

The blond twin Keno brothers are experts in American furniture and have often appeared on "Antiques Roadshow." Both Leigh and Leslie Keno have been interested in rare Americana since they were kids and have been involved in the antiques business since their teenage years and Leslie Keno was in the audience for this auction. The pair recently announced their own furniture line.

Tags: antique furniture, chippendale, chippendalefurniture, furniture auction, keno brothers, leigh keno