Grogan and Company will host their first auction of the 2011 season on Sunday, February 13th at 12 noon. Comprised of American and European Paintings, Prints and Sculpture, 18th and 19th century Furniture and Decorations, Silver, Jewelry and Oriental Rugs and Carpets, the auction will aslo include property three important estates and collections: the Damon Family Collection of Decorative Works of Art, Maps and Books from the Ottoman Empire and the Near East; an Important Collection of Chinese Decorations from a Prominent Massachusetts Collector and Antiques and Fine Art from the Estate of Marcella Clark McCormack, Newport Rhode Island.
The Damon Collection was begun by Cambridge born Theron Damon, a writer and Harvard graduate, who taught at Robert College in Constantinople from 1906-1909. After the First World War, Damon befriended the art critic, Bernard Berenson, who he accompanied on many expeditions in the Middle East. In 1929, Damon opened an antiquities shop in New York City titled Old and Near Eastern Art. Six years later, due to the Great Depression, Damon closed the shop and moved to Massachusetts. A member of the Hajji Baba Club of New York, highlights from Damon’s collection include a late 19th century Tabriz Carpet, Persia, 13’9” x 11’6”, estimated at $10,000-15,000 and a 19th century Mid Eastern Mother of Pearl and Ivory Inlaid Settee, acquired from the family of Mohsen al Bakir al Barazi, former prime minister of Syria, estimated at $5,000-10,000. A first edition of Caspard Fossati’s Aya Sofia including 25 lithographs documenting the restoration of the Hagia Sophia, as ordered by the Sultan Abdul Medjid in 1852, is estimated at $3,000-5,000 and a large selection of Antique maps featuring Turcici Imperii Descriptio, by Abraham Ortelius, dated 1584, estimated at $700-900 and Graecia, a map by Willem Janszoon Blaeu, dated 1650, is estimated at $500-700.
Theron’s son, George (Hunt) Damon, also a Harvard graduate, added an important selection of Islamic Tiles to the collection while assigned in Ankara, Turkey during the Second World War. Tiles rescued from an old bathhouse in the process of being demolished, included a Fragmentary Turquoise and Black Mosaic Tile, Turkey, 13th century, a Hexagonal Tile, from the 15th century, two Cuerda Seca Tiles, Safavid, 17th century and a fragment of a Cuerda Fish and Bird Decorated Tile, Safavid, 17th century. The estimates for the tiles range from $700 to $4,000.
Chinese decorations include an Important Collection assembled in the 1970’s by a Prominent Boston Doctor, featuring a Chinese Egg Shell Porcelain Raspberry Red Flared Rim Beaker, bearing Yongzheng (1723-1735) reign mark, Qing Dynasty, 5 3/8 inches. Estimated at $20,000-30,000, the beaker was formerly in the collection of James Frederick Oiesen, the Danish Ambassador to the Chinese court in the late 19thcentury. A Pair of Chinese Porcelain Blue and White Bowls, Qing Dynasty, are estimated to bring $10,000-20,000 and a Chinese Porcelain Turquoise Glazed Hu Vase, Qing Dynasty, acquired at Parke Bernet, is estimated at $12,000-18,000.
Property from the Estate of Marcella Clark McCormack of Newport, Rhode Island, features a large selection of furniture, fine art and decorations. The daughter of popular Broadway singer and philanthropist, Jane Pickens Langley, McCormack’s estate includes a Queen Anne Red Chinoiserie Decorated Tall Case Clock, 18th century, estimated at $3,000-5,000; a French Provincial Fruitwod Commode, estimated at $2,000-3,000 and a Portrait of a Lady in Blue Dress, an oil on canvas formerly in the Karolik Collection, which is estimated at $1,000-1,500.
Fine Art highlights include several Sporting Works of Art, including a watercolor by Aiden Lasell Ripley, In the Field, estimated at $15,000-25,000 and a collection of prints by such artists as Ripley, Carl Rungius, Frank Benson and Thomas Hart Benton. A large patriotic painting by Cecilia Beaux titled Victory Bearing Away the Infant Future, created in 1921for Gloucester’s American Legion Fourth of July Celebration, stands at an impressive 88 x 60 inches and is estimated at $10,000-15,000. Guy Wiggins Winter on Wall Street, an 8 x 11 inch oil on board, likely created during World War II, is estimated at $12,000-20,000 and German artist, Walter Leistikow’s, Holiday at the Shore, bears an estimate of $20,000-30,000.
Other important highlights include an 18th century Chippendale Cherry Chest on Chest, purported to have been acquired in 1920 from the Hubbard House, Concord, Massachusetts and possibly attributed to Joseph Hosmer, a Revolutionary War period cabinet maker living in Concord and friend to Thomas Hubbard. The Chest stands at 85 inches and is estimated to sell in the $5,000-7,000 range. A 1930 Ford Model A Standard Coupe, the Ford Motor Company’s second big success after the Model T and the first Ford to use the standard set of driver controls with conventional clutch and brake pedals; throttle and gearshift, is estimated at $5,000-10,000. The sale will also include a selection of Silver, Jewelry and Oriental Rugs and Carpets.
The exhibition begins on Thursday, February 10th and is open to the public. Hours are 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. – 12 noon on Sunday. The auction will be held at Grogan & Company’s Dedham Gallery located at 22 Harris Street, Dedham, Massachusetts.
A fully illustrated catalogue and directions can be found at www.groganco.com. Inquiries may be directed to 781.461.9500.