The Auction BlockSeptember 11, 2013


**Sotheby?s**
*Giuseppe Penone ?Lignes D?Eau?
Bronze sculpture, 157 ? in.*
Beginning on Sept. 20 and running through October, Sotheby?s will host a selling exhibition of works by globally renowned Italian sculptor and conceptual artist, Giuseppe Penone, entitled ?When Man Meets Nature.? Presenting 36 works showcasing Penone as a modern artist integrating art with nature and member of the modern Italian art movement Arte Povera, the show will feature all mediums of his work, including bronze, stone, photography and works on paper. This selling exhibition will be one of the biggest shows of its kind in New York, as part of Sotheby?s S|2, the private sale and gallery arm of Sotheby?s global Contemporary Art department. The works on display in S|2 are available for private sale, offering an exciting new dimension to the Sotheby?s experience. In addition to gallery programming, the S|2 team also facilitates bespoke private acquisitions and sales.

**Weschler?s**
*Austrian Ormolu Mounted Parcel Ebonized and Gilt Gesso Elmwood Piano Forte
Auction Date: Sept. 20
Estimate: $10,000 ? $15,000*
Weschler?s will auction this Elmwood piano as part of its Capital Collections Auction on Friday, Sept. 20. This rare Viennese pianoforte was possibly made by Johann Fritz (1810-1820), a prolific builder with very few surviving pieces. The six-octave keyboard?FF to f4?has four pedals, including a Turkish music pedal (cymbal and drum) and a bassoon knee level. Made of Elmwood under gold leaf, this piece is originally from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss of Dumbarton Oaks.

**Christie?s**
*Federal Satinwood-Inlaid and Verre Eglomis? Mahogony Cylinder Desk and Bookcase
Auction Date: September 24
Estimate: $150,000 ? $300,000*
Christie?s Sept. 24 auction of American Furniture, Folk Art and Decorative Arts spans from the 17th to the 20th century, featuring property from three major collections. The collection includes a magnificent Federal desk-and-bookcase, embellished with 47 verre ?glomis? glass panels and probably made for the Van Ness family of Washington, D.C. Selections from the estate of the late Americana collector Eric Martin Wunsch include an elaborately carved New York card table from the Chippendale period. Highlights to be offered from the Westervelt Company, perhaps the most significant collection of Classical American pieces ever assembled, span the mediums of furniture, silver, paintings and Audobon prints.

**Bonham?s**
*Pair of chased brass-overlaid teak chairs, designed by Lockwood de Forest
(1850-1932). India, 1881-1882.
Auction Date: Sept. 25
Estimate: $50,000 – $80,000*
Bonhams will offer an exceptional pair of chased brass-overlaid teak chairs, designed by Lockwood de Forest in the Fine American & European Furniture, Decorative Arts & Silver auction to be held at the Madison Avenue galleries on Sept. 25. Made in Ahmadebad, India, circa 1881-1882, de Forest modeled the chairs after one he had discovered while visiting an ancient Indian palace during his honeymoon. De Forest was an instrumental figure in the Aesthetic and Orientalist movements during the last decades of the nineteenth century, leading a revival of East Indian techniques within American decorative arts. When de Forest moved to California in the early 1920s, the chairs were purchased at auction by William Randolph Hearst, who at that time was spending millions of dollars annually to acquire the most extraordinary art and antiques available.

**Potomack Company**
*George III Armorial Silver Epergne
London, 1768. 13 x 25 ? in.
Auction Date: Oct. 5 ? 6
Estimate: $6,000 ? $8,000*
Potomack Company will auction the Harry Z. Isaacs Antiques and Fine Art Collection from Long Branch House. Located in the Shenandoah Valley, the estate is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register. The auction will feature more than 250 lots from the collection, including English and American antiques, furniture, decorative arts, and artworks acquired from the most respected dealers in the United States and England, including Israel Sack, N.Y. and Mallet, London. An art historian and decorative arts specialist who was a close friend of Isaacs commented, ?He bought only the best.? This George III armorial silver epergne, features a central oval basket, the spiral gadrooned rim above shaped bands of pierced foliage, circlets, stars and crosses, above a waisted support fitted with eight scroll arms with similarly pierced alternating baskets and dishes.

**Doyle New York**
*Gold, Cabochon Gem-Set and Diamond Bracelet-Watch, Cartier, France,
circa 1945. From the Estate of Margaret Truman Daniel
Auction Date: Sept. 25
Estimate: $6,000-$8,000*
Doyle New York will auction property from the Estate of Margaret Truman Daniel (1924 ? 2008) as part of its Important Jewelry auction on Sept. 25. The only child of President Harry S. Truman and his wife Bess, Mrs. Daniel graduated from George Washington University in 1946, and embarked on a classical singing career, performing at venues such as Washington?s Constitution Hall, the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall. When her father left office in 1953, she moved to New York where she worked for NBC, conducting interviews for radio and television, and even substituting for Edward R. Murrow on his television program, ?Person to Person.? She later became an acclaimed author, writing biographies of her father and mother, and publishing the best-selling novel, ?Murder in the White House,? in 1980. Until her death in 2008, she served on the board of trustees of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, created by Congress in 1975 to award scholarships to college students planning careers in government.

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