Doyle New York “Boats in Choppy Water Offshore,” 1865 Mauritz Frederik Hendrick de Haas (1832–1895) Auction Date: Oct. 5 Estimate: $10,000 – $20,000 Doyle New York’s auction of American Painting, Furniture and Decorative Arts will feature a stunning collection of beloved — and sometimes forgotten — treasures of 20th-century American painting. This painting by Mauritz Frederik Hendrick de Haas rivals the quality and grandeur of early Turner. Work by other artists up for auction includes a sweeping natural wilderness scene by Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, a classic colonial farm scene by Grandma Moses and a magnificent portrait of an early Mississippi river town by John Stobart.
Christie’s Ronald Reagan Needlepoint Cushion, c. 1984 Auction Date: Sept. 21–22 Estimate: $1,000 – $1,500 To benefit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, the Private Collection of President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan comes to auction, revealing the legacy of the iconic 40th president and first lady. In conjunction with the Americana sales at Christie’s New York, this assemblage of over 700 lots includes furniture, decorative pieces, books, memorabilia, jewelry, paintings, sculpture, drawings and prints from the Reagans’ Los Angeles home. Highlights include a signed fragment of the Berlin Wall, President Reagan’s cowboy boots and a series of doodles by the president on White House stationery.
Bonhams 17th-Century Dutch Library Globes Hondius and Jansson Auction Date: Sept. 20 Estimate: $400,000 – $600,000 Bonhams announces its first Exploration and Travel auction, to include rare books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, pictures and relics describing and documenting the exploration of the world from 1482 to the early 20th century. With 150 lots, the auction explores the first documentation of voyages to various important regions and bodies of water. The auction has around 70 lots covering the exploration of North America, including a fine pair of Dutch library globes (terrestrial and celestial), dated 1623 and 1648. The terrestrial globe is a unique unrecorded state and shows the latest geographical knowledge.
Freeman’s “The Tea Drinker,” c. 1890 Gustave Vichy (1839–1904) Auction Date: Sept. 28 Estimate: $13,000 – $20,000 This gem of a mechanical marvel from the Golden Age of Automation, part of the upcoming auction of Fine Furniture and Works of Art at Freeman’s, is a premier example of automated trinkets, as well as a classic piece from the legendary Vichy family. The papier-mâché figure with braided hair and silk kimono dress and an embroidered overcoat raises a teacup to her mouth with her right arm while her left hand spins a parasol, all with nodding head and blinking eyes. The piece comes with the original key.
Sotheby’s “Still Life,” 1933 Hubert Vos (1855–1935) Auction Date: April 19 Estimate: $6,000 – $8,000 This season’s Saturday at Sotheby’s sale offers a wide range of both decorative and collectible Asian art, featuring over 300 Chinese, Japanese and Korean works. Estimates range from $400 to $50,000. The sale will include Song and Qing dynasty porcelains, snuff bottles, Japanese bronzes, Korean pottery, classical Chinese paintings, calligraphy, textiles and furniture, as well as interesting items such as this Hubert Vos painting, an exquisitely crafted example of the West’s enduring fascination with Eastern goods and culture, known as Japonisme and Chinamania.
Potomack Company “Project for a Washington Monument, City of Baltimore” Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902) Auction Date: September 24, 25 and 27 Estimate: $80,000 – $120,000 This truly unique historical painting by the famed and lauded Bierstadt is probably a depiction of the Washington Monument in Baltimore, with the grassy areas on either side still visible today. It will be included in the upcoming catalogue raisonné on Bierstadt authored by Melissa Webster Speidel. The road leading up to the monument is Charles Street and the church in the foreground is likely the First & Franklin Presbyterian Church on Madison Street, built in 1875. The painting is part of Potomack Company’s three-day fall auction, featuring over 1,000 lots of high-end Continental antiques and artwork.
