Press

July 1 2021

The Enslaved Artist Whose Pottery Was an Act of Resistance, The New York Times

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The stoneware “catination” jar by David Drake from 1836 bought at auction for $369,000 last year by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. A curator there called these acquisitions a “turning point” in the stories that American art museums tell about slavery. Credit…Carlos Chavarria for The New York Times

Published: June 17, 2021

By: Jori Finkel

The speckled brown storage jar looks humble, even homely, from a distance — something you might find on a back porch in the South. Come closer and you see the wild runs of alkaline glaze up and down the surface, and some revealing marks by the artist known as Dave the Potter or David Drake, who made powerful stoneware pottery in the Edgefield District of South Carolina while enslaved by different owners.

At the bottom of the pot are three marks that look like fingerprints, where someone — possibly Drake — dipped the pot into glaze. Across the shoulder runs one word that Drake inscribed, with a sharpened stick or similar tool: “catination,” a variant of catenation, the state of being yoked or chained. Just as notable, experts say, is that the jar is dated “12 April 1836,” two years after South Carolina passed an especially punitive anti-literacy law designed to prevent slaves from writing, making this single word an extraordinary act of resistance or defiance by Drake.

It’s not quite 15 inches tall, but this jar points to the artistic achievements of enslaved African Americans and the persistent erasure of their work from America’s cultural institutions for nearly 300 years.

Credit: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Randy Dodson

So when the jar went up for sale in November at Brunk Auctions in Asheville, N.C., art museums across the country paid attention. The estimate was $40,000 to $60,000. But competing museums pushed the price to $369,000 with the buyer’s premium, setting a world auction record for David Drake’s work and capping off a year of major institutional purchases of his distinctive pottery.

In 2020, buyers included the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the more historically oriented International African American Museum, currently under construction in Charleston, S.C. At a time when museum leaders are both highly motivated and heavily pressured to rethink the racial biases built into their collections, acquiring and showcasing the extraordinary work of Drake offers a dramatic way to do so, while also offering a window onto the history of slavery.

Timothy Burgard, curator in charge of American art at the Fine Arts Museums, who placed the winning bid on the “catination” jar, called these acquisitions a “turning point” in the stories that American art museums tell about slavery. He plans to install the jar prominently in a Civil War-era gallery at the de Young Museum by July 1, “symbolically centering the issue of the slavery system, which historically has been minimalized and marginalized by museums.”

Credit: Saint Louis Art Museum

Credit: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

According to the auctioneer Andrew Brunk, “There’s no question institutions are driving this market at the moment.” He described the demand for jars bearing writing by Drake — ranging from one word to short but expressive poems — as especially strong.

These inscriptions help to tell the story of David Drake when much biographical information is missing. Judging from census records, Drake was likely born in 1801 and died in the 1870s. Auction records show that he had several enslavers in the Edgefield area, and that he was used at least once as collateral for a loan. A voting register indicates that he adopted the name Drake after emancipation, taking the surname of his first owner. But his biography still has major gaps. It’s not clear who trained him on the potter’s wheel. (He also made pots by hand using the coil technique.) And there is no consensus about how he learned to read and write.

What is known is that he made many stoneware pots for sale, some as large as 40 gallons, that demonstrated his physical strength and virtuosity with clay and signed his name, “Dave,” on more than 100. He wrote verses or sayings on at least 40 that have survived.

Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Together these poem-jars, as they’re known, serve as a sort of diary, offering a different voice than the slave narratives that dominate Black literature from this period. Some, like the jar recently acquired by the Met, or the one owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art since 1997, describe the function of the pots or boast about the amount of beef or pork they could hold. Others share religious messages or witticisms. One poem from 1857 says: “I made this Jar for Cash —/though its called — lucre trash.” Another, dated 1854, says: “Lm says this handle/will crack.” Scholars have established that the initials refer to one of his owners, Lewis Miles, who ran the Stony Bluff Manufactory, making pottery using slave labor. And in the maker’s ultimate rebuke, the handle remains intact today.

Other verses can be read against the political upheavals of the time. “I, made this Jar, all of cross/If, you dont repent, you will be lost” was dated May 3, 1862, about one year into the Civil War.

The most heart-wrenching inscription begins, “I wonder where is all my relation.” The jar, at the Greenville County Museum of Art in South Carolina, is dated Aug. 16, 1857, several years after an enslaved woman from his household named Lydia and her two sons were sent away to Louisiana, according to Leonard Todd’s 2008 book “Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave.” It is not known whether Lydia was his wife.

Credit: Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC

While praised for its original research, Todd’s book has also been criticized for frequent speculation that casts Drake’s enslavers — some of whom were Todd’s ancestors — in a favorable light. For example, Todd related a story, passed down for generations but debated by experts, that Drake lost a leg after falling asleep on the train tracks one night because he drank too much.

Jason Young, an associate professor of history at the University of Michigan who specializes in African American religion and culture, finds this account unreliable. “What we do know about slavery and disability is that there were large numbers of enslaved Africans who found themselves disabled either through dangerous work regimes they were living under or because it was a popular form of punishment to take a foot or leg in response to some infraction,” Young said in an interview.

Museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art are integrating their recent acquisitions of Drake’s monumental jars into their American art galleries focused on the Civil War era — a way to discuss the artistry and traumatic history of enslaved African Americans — Credit: Jeremy Dennis for The New York Times

He has teamed up with Adrienne Spinozzi, an assistant research curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and Ethan Lasser, head of Art of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, to organize a traveling show on the legacy of African American potters from Edgefield that will feature about a dozen jars by Drake and open at the Met in September 2022. While smaller museums in the South, among them the Charleston Museum and the Greenville County Museum of Art, have long owned Drake’s pottery, the upcoming show will be the first of its kind in New York and Boston.

Lasser first got to know Drake’s work when he organized “To Speculate Darkly,” a 2010 show at the Milwaukee Museum of Art by the Chicago artist Theaster Gates, inspired by Drake’s pottery. Frustrated by Todd’s sometimes-cheery narratives, Gates sought to “amplify” Drake’s work, as the artist put it, through his own pots and music, including a hymnal Gates composed for a gospel choir. (One of Gates’s works had the decidedly un-sunny saying: “Bitch, I Made this Pot.”)

Lasser said that avoiding speculation about the potter’s life is one goal of the new show. “One of the things we’re trying to push back hard against is reading his work in terms of the benevolence of his enslavers, assuming his owner taught him to write or gave him permission,” he said. “There’s a risk that his story becomes a tonic to the cruelty of slavery.”

Credit: Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC

Credit: Art Institute of Chicago

Another aim of the exhibition is to understand how the use of slave labor supported the brisk, high-volume business of 19th-century ceramic manufactories in the Edgefield area, which is celebrated for its rich red and white clays and its glossy, alkaline glazes. In 2011, archaeologists excavated a partially buried kiln there, in a site known as Pottersville. They had expected the kiln to be around 25 feet long. It turned out to be 105 feet.

“The discovery of a kiln at that scale has led us to rethink our understanding of Edgefield pottery,” Spinozzi, the Met curator, said. “It wasn’t some small operation in someone’s back yard but a massive undertaking, involving many people.” Scholars see it as a relatively rare example in the United States of “industrial slavery,” which took place in industries like mining or manufacturing domestic goods for consumption, compared with the more familiar agricultural model associated with cotton and tobacco plantations.

Spinozzi and her colleagues are currently researching Drake’s contemporaries, including an enslaved potter named Harry who also signed his name to jars. (The auction house Crocker Farm sold a circa 1840 jar signed by “Harry” in April for $120,000 to a private collector.)

Credit: National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Most curators have dispensed with the nickname “Dave the Potter” in favor of David Drake. While acknowledging that the surname “Drake” could also be problematic because it comes from his first enslaver, Burgard, the curator at the Fine Arts Museums in San Francisco, said it “was the choice he made when registering to vote and it’s in the census records. For anyone to call him by his first name when the erasure of identity in slavery is so horrific seems disrespectful.”

This biographical erasure is one of the biggest challenges facing museums that seek to exhibit work by enslaved artists. Another is a longstanding art-world disdain for everyday functional objects.

Dr. Tonya Matthews, chief executive of the International African American museum, said her museum plans to show Drake’s work alongside objects such as sweetgrass baskets in an effort to help “dismantle this long-entrenched myth about enslaved people not having skill sets.”

Burgard, the San Francisco curator, said that Drake’s jars also make a strong case for fine art museums to recognize the importance of functional and utilitarian objects.

Credit: Carlos Chavarria for The New York Times

“If you don’t pay attention to these objects, you are never going to adequately embrace the history of women artists, artists of color or enslaved artists, because you have to look at what they were ‘allowed’ to make,” he said. “You have to look at pots, you have to look at quilts, you have to look at the beautiful ironwork on balconies in New Orleans.

“How many buildings, pieces of furniture and ceramic jars were made by people who were enslaved? Probably millions, but nobody recorded their names.”

Where to see important stoneware pottery made by David Drake

Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gallery 237.

Charleston The Charleston Museum, in the museum’s First Hall.

Chicago Art Institute of Chicago, to be installed this winter.

Greenville, S.C. Greenville County Museum of Art, on view when it reopens this winter.

New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Wing, Gallery 762.

Philadelphia Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gallery 216.

San Francisco de Young Museum, Gallery 23, “Catination” jar on view from July 1.

St. Louis Saint Louis Museum of Art, Gallery 336

A version of this article appears in print on June 18, 2021, Section C, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: An Enslaved Artist’s Acts of Resistance.

If you are subscribed to The New York Times, click here to view the article on their website.

June 9 2021

A Collection of Chinese Art from the Estate of the Late Janet N. and Clarence L. Adams, Jr., Raleigh, North Carolina

Brunk Auctions Press

Click here to view the Estate of the Late Janet N. and Clarence L. Adams, Jr., Raleigh, North Carolina

In the 1970s, Clarence L. Adams, Jr., experienced a heart attack at his home in Raleigh, NC. The medical scare required quiet and calm recovery. During that time he began reading and researching Chinese history and art, which led him into studying porcelain and the different styles produced during the dynasties. With increasing interest and curiosity, he became enthusiastic about collecting. Alongside Clarence in his journey to acquire knowledge was his wife, Janet, and together the two began their pursuit of finding antique dealers specializing in fine Chinese ceramics and porcelain.

During one of their many excursions to Washington, D.C., the couple visited the antique shop, Peking Arts, where they browsed through the abundant porcelain wares on display. The shop’s owners, Lin and Lee Kiang of Beijing (formerly known as Peking), soon became friends and mentors to the Adamses, thus expanding their acquired knowledge of Chinese history, dynasties, and the many styles of porcelain.

Throughout the decade of collecting, prior to his death, Clarence focused on further study and diversifying the collection. Janet meticulously handwrote each item’s catalog entry with detailed descriptions, notes, and purchase history, and later travelled to China where, with Lin Kiang’s letter of introduction, she was entertained by some of his family and acquired additional pieces for the collection. The couple’s combined efforts resulted in the formation of a fascinating collection of porcelain examples that represent both fine quality and rarity, from the coral-ground Jiaqing vases to the jun type conjoined double gourd vase.

After almost 40 years in private hands, Brunk Auctions is proud to introduce this collection of Chinese porcelain, which beautifully illustrates an impressive range in decoration, construction, and function of the material.

June 9 2021

A Swedish Collection Made in China, Purchased at Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York

Brunk Auctions Press

Click here to view the Private Collection, Durham, North Carolina

Inspired by the Dutch, the Swedish East India Company was founded in Gothenburg in 1731 for the purpose of establishing maritime trade with the East. The company successfully operated for 75 years, dispatching over 130 expeditions and supplying Swedish socialites with an abundance of teas, silks, spices, porcelains, and more. Chinese aesthetics and objets d’art became the height of luxury, and the prosperous reigns of the Qing dynasty sparked a national interest in the culture.

The country’s strong commercial links with Europe and the East allowed for new influences to be embraced, and this ethos promoted the development of art as part of the national culture. Many prominent Swedish aristocrats became patrons of Chinese art, acquiring historically and artistically significant works for their private collections. Over the years, many of the country’s art museums have benefited from this artistic focus, and now house world-famous collections of Chinese artifacts: the collections of King Gustavus II Adolphus and his daughter, Queen Kristina, now in the Far Eastern Museum in Stockholm; of Count Carl Gustav Wrangel, housed in the once private Skokloster Castle; Queen Lovisa Ulrica’s Chinese Pavilion, given to her as a birthday present in 1753, furnished with silks, lacquer ware, and porcelain; and in more recent history, the collection of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden (1882-1973), which was exhibited at six museums in 1966 through the support of the International Exhibitions Foundation. It is with this heritage of Swedish patronage that this Private Collection from Durham, North Carolina takes shape.

In the early 1950s a young Swedish woman spent time traveling back and forth across the Atlantic—visiting and working in New York City, and returning home to Sweden. Having a keen eye toward design and form, she worked as a model and shop display designer at Bloomingdale’s in New York City. After a few years in Sweden, she and her new husband moved permanently to the United States, and the young Swedish couple started a medical practice.

Like so many of their fellow countrymen before them, they fell in love with art from the Far East– in particular, the luminescence of porcelain and exotic glaze colors. They sought advice and encouragement from a friend in their home country, who himself was an expert in Chinese art and aesthetics. They began collecting all kinds of Chinese porcelain beginning in the 1970s, purchasing from antique stores during their travels, and from auction houses—namely, Sotheby Parke Bernet in New York—evidenced by the stacks of sales catalogues and invoices in their home.

Purchasing from the best, their well-rounded collection highlights excellent examples of the material culture of porcelain, including Longquan celadon jars, hare’s fur tea bowls, blue and white from the Ming dynasty, and finely enameled porcelains from the glorious Qianlong reign.

Over the course of the following 30 years, the Swedish couple lived a private life in North Carolina, building their treasured collection of porcelain wares. With their combined love of art history, material culture, and her eye for design, the European couple amassed an extraordinary collection, spanning reigns and dynastic styles from the Tang dynasty to the Republic period, and Brunk Auctions is honored to offer this collection to the public.

December 15 2020

Boston Schoolgirl Filigree & Wax Sconce Blows Out For $221,000 At Brunk, Antiques And The Arts Weekly

Brunk Auctions Press

PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 8, 2020

By Greg Smith

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – More than doubling the $90,000 high estimate at Brunk Auctions’ three-day Premier Auction December 3-5 was an American Queen Anne filigree and wax sconce that sold for $221,000. The auction house wrote that it was probably made in Boston and dated to the early to mid-Eighteenth Century. The piece featured an elaborate display of wax fruit, shell flowers and cut fabric leaves inside of a scrolled paper gilt-edged urn on a textured papered ground with scattered mica or glass chips. A wood analysis revealed that the double arched painted white pine shadowbox was original though the brass candle arm was replaced.

“Some might assume these are English,” said Brunk’s decorative arts and textiles specialist Karen Swager, “but when the wood analysis test showed the case was American pine, that was a game changer.”

The work sold to an American private bidder, underbid on the phone by Philadelphia dealer Amy Finkel. It had provenance to Pennsylvania dealer Joe Kindig, who sold it into the collection of Dudley and Constance Godfrey.

Swager said, “I had never seen one before when we got it, so we started looking into some of the comps and how rare they are. We realized it might do well, but we were pleasantly surprised it did what it did. They are hard to find, it’s a strong but limited market.”

Brunk began selling the Godfrey collection in its October sale, working through Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century needleworks as well as early brass candlesticks. This example was a crossover piece, or a combination of both of those craft traditions.

Swager said, “They were pretty discerning collectors, so they had some very good things come up for sale.”

The description noted, “American filigree or quillwork sconces are rare and most of the approximately 25 documented double arch examples are currently in important institutional collections, including Colonial Williamsburg, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Winterthur Museum… Waxwork variants are even more rare and most have been attributed to schoolgirls in the Boston area during the early Eighteenth Century.”

In a 2006 issue of Antiques & Fine Art, Anne Vogel wrote that there were only eight waxworks known to exist from colonial times, only six appearing in sconce-form like the present example, half of which were in the vertical rectangular form.

Vogel wrote, “Waxworks have been dated through estate inventories as well as documented examples, and newspaper advertisements from Boston finishing schools confirm the making of waxworks as part of their curricula. The works even share enough formal and stylistic elements to suggest the same teacher or school, with most sharing allegorical themes with well-known paintings, mezzotints and needlework of the period.”

She continued, “Extraordinary skill and agility were required to carefully attach small wires to the wax figures, fruits and flowers, then anchor those forms to wooden posts, cover the posts with green tape for camouflage, and hide those construction techniques with more wax decoration. The figures themselves may have been simple in form but their assembled compositions were complex, akin to an elaborate theater set or three-dimensional puzzle.”

Swager said that this piece had been in the Godfrey’s collection for decades and was likely not included in any reference count as far as they knew.

“These young girls were likely well-to-do young women,” Swager said. “It took resources to make the cases, to buy the paper, put together the wax, and fix the candle arms that were created by silversmiths in the area.”

On the sale, the firm’s president Andrew Brunk said, “It was an esoteric thing, but obviously a combination of rarity and quality.”

For additional information, www.brunkauctions.com or 828-254-6846.

December 15 2020

Early Dave Jar Smashes Record For Brunk, Antiques And The Arts Weekly

Brunk Auctions Press

This inscription jar predates the period when Edgefield, S.C., potter Dave Drake was signing his works, but there was no question that it was by his hand. It now holds the auction record for any work made by him. Several aspects drove the price but, in the end, the inscription and early date of 12 April 1836 were the most critical factors. An American institution on the West Coast, bidding on the phone, acquired it for $369,000 and underbid by another institution. Wingard collection. ($40/60,000).

PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 1, 2020

Review by Madelia Hickman Ring, Catalog Photos Courtesy Brunk Auctions

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – By the time the gavel fell on the last of more than 450 lots offered by Brunk Auctions November 20-21, a combined total of $1,852,020 had been achieved with a sell-through rate of 95 percent. Crossing the block on the first day was nearly 290 lots from the Lake Toxaway, N.C., estate of Paul W. Doll Jr, that was comprised of a broad variety of American, European and Asian fine and decorative art, modern art and jewelry. The living estate collection of Joseph T. and Gaile E. Wingard from Jacksonville, Fla., which crossed the block on the second day of sales, was of markedly different material, with Southern pottery and American paintings generating the auction’s top lots.

We caught up with Andrew Brunk after the second sale wrapped up and he was ebullient. “They were really great sales, both sold over their high estimates. We had competition on almost everything, including overseas bidding and new clients. The two collections were very different – though both had American paintings – and co-mingled in the room, it made a great mix. They appealed to a very broad range of national and international bidders. The price we got for the inscription jar attributed to Dave Drake resets the record for any of his pieces, signed or not. An American institution on the West Coast bought it, with other institutions and collectors pursuing it; it was very exciting to see the sort of reach and demand of that market.”

The inscription jar Brunk was referencing came from the Wingard collection and was the undisputed star of the weekend. Made at the Pottersville Stoneware Manufactory in Edgefield District, S.C., in 1836, the 14¾-inch-tall piece featured a tan and dark brown alkaline glaze in two different directions and two inscriptions: “12 April 1836″ inscribed just below rim, and “Catination” across the shoulder.

Brunk characterized the price of $107,100 realized for “Gainsville Marsh, Florida” by Hermann Ottomar Herzog (American, 1831-1932) to be “a very big number.” The work measured 30½ by 26½ inches. Wingard collection. ($20/30,000).

Prices for masterful pieces by Dave Drake, the enslaved African American potter working in various stoneware potteries in Edgefield, S.C., from the 1830s through the 1860s, have been bringing increasingly higher prices, and this is the third time in less than a year that a new high-water mark has been set. The price realized by Brunk – $369,000 – smashes the record set May 1, 2020, when an 8-gallon alkaline-glazed stoneware jar made at Lew Miles’ Stoney Bluff Manufactory in 1857 and incised “Lm / Decr 17. 1857 / Dave,” brought $216,000 at Crocker Farm auction in Sparks, Md. That price was itself an improvement over the previous record of $184,500 that Brunk had achieved on February 8, 2020, also for a monumental alkaline glazed jar from the Lewis Miles Stoney Bluff Manufactory, this one inscribed “Lm September 7 1857″ and “Dave.”

To put the significance of the new record into context, a little backstory on the works of Dave seemed to be in order so we turned to Brunk Auctions’ specialist in Southern pottery, Corey Jones, who said he relies heavily on existing research on Dave’s pottery. The most up-to-date scholarship is that of Arthur F. Goldberg and James P. Witkowski, whose article “Beneath His Magic Touch: The Dated Vessels of the African American Slave Potter Dave,” was published in the 2006 issue of the Chipstone Foundation’s journal, Ceramics in America.

Made at a time when literacy among enslaved people was not permitted, Dave’s inscribed pieces are an improbable and astonishing record of Southern pottery manufacture. According to Goldberg and Witkowski’s article, 1829 was the earliest year when Dave began to inscribe the date of manufacture on his works, and his name does not appear on pieces prior to 1840. Only three works with words or inscriptions were made prior to the jar Brunk just sold and only seven pieces with earlier dates are known. The word “concatination” (sic) appears on a jar dated June 12, 1834; it – and “catination” (sic) as is inscribed on the new record holder – refer to bondage and likely references Dave’s condition as an enslaved man and also demonstrates his literacy.

“For centuries, these were presented to sultans and heads of state as gifts; at some point, they transcend function and become art,” Greg Capps said of this Ottoman Empire jeweled Shishana rifle, which topped the Doll sale and sold to an international private collector, bidding online, for $107,100 ($3/5,000).

When this jar was made, Dave was owned and working in the Pottersville Stoneware Manufactory; it predates his ownership by Lewis Miles, whose Lewis Miles Stoneware Factory at Stoney Bluff Plantation on Big Horse Creek was where Dave worked until he was freed in 1865, after the Civil War. Goldberg and Witkowski were aware of the jar and listed it in their 2006 research but its provenance prior to the Wingards has eluded the experts at Brunk.

Jones said that the presale buzz on the jar pointed to a strong result, noting that a few people had deemed it a very important piece that might do better than the one Brunk had sold in February. Several factors drove the price, but according to both Jones and Brunk, the early date and inscription were the most critical. Brunk described the glaze, which ran in two directions, as “incredible, so much more dynamic than [that on] most of them.” Dave’s fingerprints, in themselves not uncommon as they appear on several works, helped to create a tangible link to the potter.

The usual suspects of private collectors, institutions and dealers of Southern pottery followed the piece and likely provided initial bidding support, but, in the end, serious competition on the jar fell to two institutions, both bidding on the phone. This phenomenon can be explained, Brunk said, by the mandate among many museums for broadening the cultural diversity of their collections. With so few works by African American artists and artisans from this period coming to market, those that fit curatorial gaps attract considerable attention.

The Wingards had several works by Dave Drake; this signed and dated stoneware jar was dated 1858 and was made in the Lewis Miles Stoneware Manufactory during some of Drake’s most prolific years of signing and dating his pieces. An American institution acquired this for $57,960 ($15/25,000).

The Wingard’s extensive collection of Edgefield stoneware provided a wonderful opportunity for connoisseurship, with 50 pieces of Edgefield pottery on offer, including four other works made by Dave. All created later in his life, the prices realized were more modest, but all still exceeded their estimates. The best of these was a signed and 1858 dated stoneware jar that achieved $56,580, while a signed jar made a year later in 1859, achieved $17,220. Bringing $9,225 was a dated 1849 stoneware jar, while a cylindrical churn-shaped jar made in 1863 finished at $7,995. A small stoneware Edgefield face jug – not made by Drake – that only measured 3½ inches tall brought $47,880 and demonstrated interest in Edgefield pottery extending beyond Dave’s production.

Brunk said that they are seeing several new collectors of Southern pottery, some at significant levels, which he acknowledges brings a vibrancy and depth to the market. He also characterized the Southern fine art market as “solid.” Bidders came to the table in droves for the American fine art that was from the Wingard collection. The second highest price for something from the Wingard collection – $107,100 – was reached by Hermann Ottomar Herzog’s “Gainesville Marsh, Florida,” an oil on canvas that had been in a Spartanburg, S.C., collection before the Wingards acquired it. Three works by South Carolina artist, Elizabeth O’Neill Verner, were on offer, including her “Christmas Greens” that brought $36,900; both works by Alfred Heber Hutty exceeded expectations.

The market for Continental furniture has seen stronger days, but when the really good or rare examples comes along, it is an entirely different story. That was the case with the estate of Paul Doll Jr, whose esoteric aesthetic was of such high caliber and repute that the market responded and exceptional results were achieved from bidders in the United States and overseas. Born in 1926 near New York City, Doll was a lifetime collector whose varied collection was focused on Medieval and Renaissance objects, as well as some modern art by artists with whom Doll befriended.

A 1966 appraisal that Leopold Blumka of New York City had done on this large Hadrianic carved stone capitol surfaced about a week prior to the sale. It brought $52,920 from a trade buyer in the United States, bidding online. Doll estate. ($3/5,000).

“With Doll, it was so esoteric and different; it photographed and advertised well and drew in some people who weren’t in our circle before,” Brunk said, noting that while bidding for the Wingard sale was largely on the phones and Brunk Auction’s proprietary auction platform BA Live, the international attention resulted in higher traffic on both Bidsquare and LiveAuctioneers.

Leading the Doll collection and selling for $107,100 was an Ottoman Empire jeweled Shishana rifle. We spoke with Brunk Auctions’ coin and currency specialist, Greg Capps, who cataloged it. “We were getting inquiries from all over about this,” he said, noting that all of the bidding action took place online and on the phones. “These seem to be very rare; the comparable examples I found were largely in museums and institutions, most of which are not in the United States.”

Bidding on a large Hadrianic carved stone capital, possibly from the Second Century, capped at $51,660, while bidders splashed $18,450 out on a Gothic marble font that was probably Sixteenth Century. A provincial Roman silver tetradrachm bearing the profile portrait busts of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, dated circa 36 BCE, was in extraordinary condition and, for such a small coin, brought the big price of $20,910. Capps said “it captures that moment when there was a merger of powers between an Egyptian Queen and a Roman general.”

This face jug, made between 1860 and 1880 in the Edgefield District of S.C., was just 3½ inches tall. Possibly made at the Davies Pottery, it was rare and brought a commensurately high price, selling to an American private collector on the phone for $47,880. Wingard collection. ($15/25,000).

As expected of furniture made several centuries ago, repairs and replaced elements are not unusual, but the rarity of the pieces – often combined with noteworthy provenance – was such that condition issues did not deter bidders. Early furniture kicked off with a Tudor turned great chair that almost quadrupled its low estimate and brought $11,685. That was just the beginning. A French or Flemish Gothic tracery-carved iron mounted coffer realized $22,680 and a Continental Gothic carved and paneled walnut barrel-back chair reached $14,080. Nearly doubling its high estimate, a Spanish Gothic shrine cabinet finished at $12,160, but perhaps the bargain of the sale came when a massive French Gothic oak coffer that stretched 126 inches in length, brought $1,107 despite provenance to George Grey Barnard, John D. Rockefeller, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Christie’s East.

In addition to his affinity for early decorative arts, Doll had an eye for modern fine art and befriended several artists whose works were featured in the sale. Paintings by Henry Gasser, John Grabach and Gary Erbe were all in plentiful supply, with competition and results across the board. High points for each artist were “November” by Gasser that closed at $15,120, the same price realized for John R. Grabach’s “Sunlight in Irvington.” “Music with Spice” by Gary T. Erbe (American, b 1944), played out to $6,765.

Brunk Auctions will conduct a Specialty and Emporium sale January 14-15, a Premier sale February 5-6 and a dedicated coin and currency sale March 12-13.

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium.

December 7 2020

Renowned Fine Jeweler Mish Announces an Unprecedented Virtual Charity Fundraiser & Auction to Benefit Nashville’s Cheekwood Estate & Gardens

Brunk Auctions Press

Exclusive Online Sale and Auction to Debut on Bidsquare from December 1^st – 10^th

(NEW YORK, NY, December 1, 2020) – Esteemed Fine Jewelry Designer, Mish Tworkowski, has announced an exclusive online charity fundraiser and auction to benefit Nashville’s Cheekwood Estate & Gardens. The sale will open from December 1^st – 10^th on the leading platform for online auctions, Bidsquare, with an offering of 28 extraordinary one-of-a-kind and limited-edition Mish creations. A generous portion of the proceeds will benefit the historic museum and botanical gardens in Tennessee. Simultaneously, an iconic brooch from the jeweler’s collection will be auctioned off with 100% of the proceeds going to the non-profit educational institution. Mish has a long-standing relationship with the museum and gardens as an avid patron of the Swan Ball, one of the premier charity events in the United States that benefits Cheekwood.

“The Swan Ball and Cheekwood Estate & Gardens have benefited from the generosity of fine jewelry designer Mish Tworkowski for many years. He is an avid supporter of the arts and has been a Swan Ball Jeweler as well as an underwriter of the Antiques & Gardens Show, which also benefits Cheekwood. We are grateful to present his extraordinary collection in this upcoming online benefit,” says Mary Catherine McClellan, Co-Chair of the 2021 Swan Ball. Added her Co-Chair Janette Smith: “We are so thankful that Mish is willing to support us in such a generous way and on a national scale at a time when most charities are struggling with how to continue to thrive amidst a global pandemic.”

The Swan Ball auction team and Mish consulted with the prominent Fine Art Auction House, Brunk Auctions, in developing this unique online charity benefit. “This collaboration is a silver lining that has emerged as we all try and pivot to new ways of doing business and serving our communities,” says Lauren Brunk, Senior Vice President at Brunk Auctions. “The organizers of the Swan Ball, Mish, and Brunk Auctions have come together with a generosity of spirit and determination to support the Cheekwood museum and gardens. We bring our different areas of expertise to the table and everyone benefits.”

Twenty-eight one-of-a-kind and limited-edition creations have been assembled for this exclusive online charity fundraiser. Each represents Mish’s incredible designs and workmanship, and this collection is a reflection of his personal passion for gardens and his enthusiasm for color. Mish’s deep knowledge of flora inspire meticulously detailed botanical designs, many of which will be featured in this sale. On offer will be a pair of “Poppy” earclips in 18k gold with diamond pavé centers and a bracelet featuring multi-colored baroque South Sea, Tahitian and freshwater cultured pearls with an 18k gold reversible poppy clasp with diamond pavé.

Other highlights include a one-of-a-kind “Raceway” necklace featuring approximately 7.65 carats of diamonds and two “Raceway” bracelets, one featuring 162 carats of specialty-cut white topaz baguettes mounted in 18k white gold set with approximately 9.1 carats of pavé diamonds and the other set with 156 carats of blue topaz reminiscent of a clear blue sky. Limited-edition pieces from the designer’s new Strawberry Flower collection will also be among the offering. Lifelike in design, every flower petal features intricate engravings that replicate the beautiful details of a strawberry flower in 18k yellow gold, each set with a pavé diamond at its center.

An iconic creation from Mish will simultaneously be up for auction during the sale. An avid horticulturalist, Mish specially selected his Chinoiserie Pagoda Brooch featuring a 56.5 carat white topaz center stone mounted in 18k gold with over 2.5 carats of princess-cut diamonds, diamond briolettes, pavé diamonds and a white cultured South Sea pearl to be highlighted during this benefit. 100% of proceeds will go to Cheekwood Estate & Gardens.

“I am delighted to present a very special collection of jewelry to benefit Cheekwood Estate & Gardens and help in their mission to preserve Cheekwood as a historical landmark where beauty and excellence in art and horticulture stimulate the mind and nurture the spirit,” said Mish Tworkowski, founder and designer of his eponymous brand. “As a long-time supporter of the Swan Ball, which benefits Cheekwood, I have grown to know so many wonderful people in Nashville, Tennessee, and it is truly an honor and a privilege for me to give back and support the amazing work they do for this historic institution.”

Please visit https://www.bidsquare.com from December 1^st – December 10^th to learn more and support Cheekwood Estate & Gardens. Direct access can be found in the links below:

Auction: https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cheekwood-estate-gardens/mish-fine-jewelry-pagoda-brooch-auction-to-benefit-cheekwood-estate-gardens-6104

Charity Sale: https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cheekwood-estate-gardens/cheekwood-estate-garden-presents-a-special-collection-of-mish-fine-jewelry-5978

About Mish

Mish Tworkowski, nationally acclaimed jewelry designer of his eponymous New York City based company, is widely regarded as one of the US’s most talented and exciting fine jewelry designers. His love of gardening and the natural world has inspired the whimsical design of Mish’s iconic jewelry pieces. Flowers from his Upstate New York garden, tree bark found on frequent trail hikes in Colorado or sea life from beach walks near his Florida home often become beautiful jewel-encrusted necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Mish’s personal style has been celebrated by the press as well. His shops, apartments and country houses have graced the pages of home magazines such as Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, and Veranda. His dandy, custom-tailored dressing has placed him on the International Best Dressed List and the acknowledgment of his gifted design ability has resulted in his induction into the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America.

About Cheekwood Estate & Gardens

Cheekwood is a 55-acre botanical garden and art museum located on the historic Cheek estate. Originally built as the home of Leslie and Mabel Cheek in 1929, Cheekwood is one of the finest examples of an American Country Place Era estate. Since being converted into a museum of art and botanical garden in 1960, Cheekwood has presented world-class art exhibitions, spectacular gardens and an historic estate unlike anything else. Each year, Cheekwood welcomes over 225,000 visitors, making it one of the city’s top cultural attractions, with approximately 14,000 member households. Visitors enjoy family activities, programming for all ages and year-round festivals celebrating the four seasons. From 150,000 blooming bulbs in the spring to one mile of holiday lights in the winter, there’s always something to see at Cheekwood.

About The Swan Ball

The Swan Ball, one of the premier charity events in the United States and established in 1963, is a white tie gala benefiting Cheekwood that is attended by prominent southeastern, national and international guests.

About Brunk Auctions

Based in Asheville North Carolina, Brunk Auctions is one of the nation’s leading auction houses. Founded over 35 years ago by Robert Brunk, there continues to be emphasis on transparency, scholarship and customer service. Andrew Brunk took leadership of the company 15 years ago and has achieved significant growth and recognition in the field. Both Andrew and his wife Lauren are active as specialists and auctioneers. Along with their seasoned staff of specialists and customer service team, they have decades of experience and training at international auction houses, museums and in the trade. They maintain a full calendar of auctions for fine art, decorative arts, jewelry and coins, Asian art and other categories. Brunk Auctions is dedicated to working with arts institutions as they either grow or refine their collections, with private collectors, estates and appraisers.

October 6 2020

October Premier Auction Realizes $3,874,549 with 96% of Lots Sold

Brunk Auctions Press

Asheville, North Carolina, October 5, 2020 — Brunk Auctions sustains impressive hammer prices and sell through rates in their second sale of the Fall season. The October 2-3 Premier Auctions attracted national and international buyers across many categories with Silver, Fine Art, Textiles, Jewelry, American Furniture, and Historical Documents obtaining the best results. The auction boasted a 96% sell through rate with a final sale total of $3,874,549.

The Friday, October 2nd Premier Auction opened with fine offerings from our Jewelry, Coins & Currency, and Silver departments. Lot 155, the Temple St. Clair 18kt. Gemstone Bracelet attracted many bidders and exceeded its presale estimate with a total of $24,600. Lot 239, the Samuel Kirk Repousse Coin Silver Water Pitcher realized $8,198 and claimed the top lot in the Silver category.

On Saturday, October 3, an impressive group of twenty-four needleworks, beadworks, and embroideries from The Collection of Dudley and Constance Godfrey started the day off strong. This group of textiles achieved an overestimate total of $163,159. Lot 345, a 1725 Signed Silk and Canvas Needlework, achieved $18,450 exceeding its high estimate by over $15,000.

Fine Art stole the show on Saturday. Luther Brady’s Milton Avery, Birds Over Sea, lot 555, realized $1,722,000. This painting from the American modernist’s mature period has exceptional provenance with an exhibition history from over twenty museums and galleries across the country. The Avery received extraordinary interest from dealers, institutions, and private collectors alike. Laura Crockett, Modern Art Specialist, commented on the painting, “It is perhaps impossible to measure the impact Milton Avery had on a young generation of modern artists. He shunned what was popular, was driven to express himself purely, and shared selflessly with artists who gathered around him.” The proceeds from the important painting will benefit The Luther W. Brady Foundation and will support students of both science and the arts.

Lot 579, Mauritz Frederik Hendrick De Haas proved a Fine Art highlight as well. This painting, Sailing at Sunset, achieved $49,200― more than tripling its presale estimate. A John James Audubon etching, engraving, and aquatint, lot 608, achieved $79,950, further contributing to the Fine Art Department’s success.

In the last half hour of the sale, a group of Important Quasi War Related Naval Documents, lot 665, with a modest estimate of $4,000 – $6,000, realized $135,300. This lot was one of eighteen from the Historic Captain James N. Sever Collection of Nautical Charts and Documents.

Lot 669, a Rare North Carolina Chippendale Desk and Bookcase achieved $44, 280, also tripling its presale estimate. Andrew Brunk, President and CEO, remarked, “On the heels of the Estate of William N. Banks, Jr. Auction, it was exciting to see continued strength in the market across categories and periods. We were thrilled with the response and result for the Milton Avery painting at $1.7 million hammer. Interest was strong and prices robust throughout the sale, particularly for jewelry and objects from important single-owner collections such as that of Dudley and Constance Godfrey Collection, and the Sever historic map collection.”

September 30 2020

17th Century Beadwork, Mary Corbet’s Needle ‘n Thread

Brunk Auctions Press

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020

…October 2nd and 3rd, an auction of a fabulous collection of historical needlework is available online, and I want you to know about it. You might not be able to participate, but you can certainly take a peek at the items being auctioned and perhaps glean a bit of inspiration for your own pursuits.

Brunk Auctions is featuring this lot of historical needlework pieces from the property collection of Dudley and Constance Godfrey.

Many beautiful pieces of crewel work, raised work, goldwork, and bead embroidery – and some schoolgirl samplers, and a lovely piece of paper scroll work – are part of this auction lot.

The 17th century bead embroidery pieces are fascinating! This one in particular catches my eye – I love it! I keep going back to it and looking at it.

(Oh, don’t worry. I can’t bid on it. If I could, I would, but it is well beyond my reach. If you can, I think it is a piece that will surely delight you!)

As you begin looking at a piece like this, you get an overall impression of the story it relates. It’s the story of Jephte the Galaadite and his daughter, from Judges 11 in the Old Testament.

It’s when you start to study it closely that you see what I think of as fantastic and fun details, despite the nature of the story itself. I like to think that the embroiderer who made it really enjoyed doing so.

The castle is not necessarily biblical, which is typical of art depicting biblical subjects. The art tends to depict the story, but the details that adorn the story are often a little more contemporary to the artist.

I’m quite taken by what I think must be very charming chimney smoke on the left. If I were drawing that, it’s pretty much what my chimney smoke would look like, too.

Fruit trees and out-of-all-proportion birds and bugs often adorn 17th century embroidery.

Check out those striped beads!

And who doesn’t love a snail in the garden? (Even one big enough to eat you, if so inclined.)

In any case, take a look at the offerings for this auction! It’s a terrific opportunity if you are a collector. And even if you’re not, it is a wonderful opportunity to browse through the photos of the pieces on offer. You can enlarge them to see the details.

Click here to see full article on Needle ‘n Thread

September 28 2020

Richard Manson, Jr. Sports Memorabilia Collection

Brunk Auctions Press

Richard Manson, Jr. grew up loving the sounds and smells of the ballpark. At a young age he was a tiny spectator at the grandest of stages – Yankee Stadium. It was there he looked on as “Big Cat” Mize, “Whitey” Ford, and some fresh faced kid from Oklahoma named Mickey took the field.

This early exposure to sports no doubt steered his choice later in life to become a basketball scout for Coach Bill Bertka. There he developed relationships with many collegiate and professional coaches and players.

1953 New York Yankees Team Signed Baseball – Lot 625 / Estimate: $1,500 – $2,000

Mr. Manson has enjoyed all the hours in the bleachers as well as his encyclopedic knowledge that has come along with it. He saw many hopefully optimistic minor league players traverse their way through the International League hoping to one day make it to “the Show.” Quite a few of them did, in fact.

No matter which sport, Richard was a student of the game and he now wants to pass on some of his treasures collected along the way.

Click here to view the collection coming to auction on October 23, 2020

September 24 2020

The Historic Auction of William N. Banks, Jr. Exceeds Expectations Drawing Collectors Around the World

Brunk Auctions Press

Collectors Compete Vigorously in Market-Affirming

Landmark Sale Of Late Connoisseur’s American Furniture And Paintings

John Frederick Kensett’s Beacon Rock, Newport, signed and dated 1856, oil on canvas, sold for $664,200. This Kensett view is a half-scale version of a related work by the artist in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – For immediate release, September 18, 2020:

“BEACON ROCK, NEWPORT,” by John Frederick Kensett (1816-1872) led Brunk Auctions’ highly-anticipated sale of the estate of William N. Banks Jr. and the Collection of Bankshaven, on September 12, selling for $664,200, nearly double its high estimate. In total, the single-owner 328-lot sale brought roughly $4.7 million, far exceeding its pre-auction estimates and widely reinforced that the market and appetite for 19th century American paintings and Federal and Classical American furniture is alive and well. Buyers from around the world, competed vigorously for coveted pieces, online, on the phone and via Zoom. A limited number of collectors bid in the room.

“We are thrilled with the results of the William N. Banks, Jr. sale, commented Andrew Brunk, President and CEO of Brunk Auctions. “One of the really exciting things about this sale was the breadth of response. Almost every major piece in the collection went to a different collector in a remarkable spread geographically all over the U.S., with buyers from Asia and the UK. A lot of collectors and dealers joined us in our excitement to feel the life and excitement back in this part of the market. Those kinds of numbers haven’t been realized in a long time, and it truly felt like a landmark sale within this focused part of the field. William N. Banks, Jr. was the quintessential collector and it really got the attention of those who appreciate that style and period.”

William N. Banks Jr., a consummate scholar/collector, historian, preservationist, playwright, and southern gentleman, passed away last November at age 95. A regular contributor to The Magazine Antiques, Banks was considered a Renaissance man — passionate about historic art, architecture and landscape and well-known for preserving historic homes in Georgia and New Hampshire.

“There’s no question that there was a profound ‘Banks factor’ in play in the keen interest and success of the sale,” says Andrew Brunk. William N. Banks, Jr. was very well-loved and well-known by the collecting community. He was an early collector and bought from the best dealers of the time. The reality is that there are not many collections out there left like this: collected fifty years ago, with great care, by a very astute collector, and left untouched since the late sixties. People viewed this auction as a real opportunity. When are you going to have a chance again at this many great classical objects in the same place at the same time? All of these elements came together to create a real ‘Banks factor.’”

Other painting highlights include the much-admired “FRANCONIA RANGE FROM THE SOUTH WITH VILLAGE OF SOUTH WOODSTOCK, NEW HAMPSHIRE,” an important 1857 work by Asher B. Durand, which sold for $516,600.00 (above), Sanford Robinson Gifford’s MT. WASHINGTON FROM THE SACO RIVER, 1856, oil on canvas, which sold for 369,000 (below).

“We had all the best Hudson River School artists in the same room at the same time and each painting was top quality for that artist, commented Nan Zander, Brunk’s American painting specialist and General Manager. “The paintings hadn’t been on the market for a long time, and there were iconic images with similar examples found only in museums. To have the opportunity to take those home is what everybody waits for.”

SOLD FURNITURE HIGHLIGHTS

For lovers of the American decorative arts, the furniture highlights in the collection were world-class. Federal and American Classical Furniture was one of the great strengths of the William N. Banks, Jr. Collection, with signed pieces acquired from some of the most eminent specialists dealers in New York and Boston.

A SPECTACULAR TIGER-MAPLE GRECIAN SOFA (above) with a caned back and sides and verd antique and gilt feet, widely published before the sale, sold for $135,300 against its presale estimate of $20,000-30,000.

FINE NEW YORK CLASSICAL MAHOGANY FRENCH PRESS POSSIBLY SHOP OF HONORE LANNUIER, CIRCA 1815, Frenchpress or linen press. Price Realized including Buyer’s Premium: $59,040 (Presale estimate: $12,000 – $18,000)

A FINE CLASSICAL GILT, VERT ANTIQUE,AND ROSEWOOD CARYATID TABLE, ATTRIBUTED TO DUNCAN PHYFE, 1815-1820, 29-1/4 x 35-3/4 x 18 in. Price Realized Including Buyer’s Premium: $159,900 (Presale estimate: $40,000-60,000)

FINE FEDERAL CARVED AND GILTWOOD MIRROR attributed to New York, 1780-1800,with urn and floral spray central ornament,flanked by urn plinths containing floral sprays,over rectangular frame centering early mirrorplate, leaf carved drapery base pendant;together with a fine reproduction made tomatch; 57 x 24 in. Provenance: Israel Sack,New York, purchased October 1969 for $5,000 (accompanied by original receipt)

FINE NEOCLASSICAL GEORGEWASHINGTON MANTEL CLOCK, FRENCH, EARLY 19TH CENTURY, patinated bronze bust of Washington à l’antique on block casewith laurel wreath mounts on sides and applied ormolu acanthus leaves above plinth base, signed “Ls. Mallet/ H. DEM.D.D’Orleans”, pendulum present,18-1/2 x 7-5/8 x 7-5/8 in. Price Realized Including Buyer’s Premium: $27,060 (Presale estimate: $7,000 -$10,000)

Other collecting categories in the sale achieved outstanding results, including garden statuary from the world-renowned Bankshaven gardens. THE FOUR SEASONS GARDEN STATUES (below) American or European, late 19th/ early 20th century, four cast stone statues depicting each of the four seasons on carved plinths, figures approx. 38 in.; plinths 14-1/2 in. sold for $34,440 (Presale estimate: $800 – $1,200).

ABOUT WILLIAM N. BANKS, JR.

William Nathaniel Banks, Jr. (1924-2019) earned degrees at Dartmouth and Yale (Phi Beta Kappa) and was a four-time MacDowell Colony Fellow, playwright and writer. He was in residence at MacDowell in 1958, twice in 1964, and in 1965. His plays “The Curate’s Play” and “The Glad Girls” were both professionally produced, and he was the longest standing member of MacDowell’s Board of Directors, having served since 1966. Banks devoted his considerable energy and resources to Bankshaven, his beautiful 1820’s Federal style home and gardens in Newnan, GA, which he rescued, restored and reconstructed on the site of his family’s property. He was a generous supporter of many nonprofit and arts organizations including the High Museum, Atlanta, where he was a life board member. He was a Bryant Fellow of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and maintained homes in New Hampshire, Georgia and New York City.