CRANSTON, R.I. – An oil on board genre painting by William Aiken Walker (Md./S.C., 1838-1921), a Chinese Ming dynasty Junyao purple splashed footed pottery bowl, a set of 12 Mintons for Tiffany scenic porcelain bird plates and an English circa-1915 single-trigger, double barrel shotgun manufactured by Westley Richards will all come up for bid Saturday, September 16th.

They’re just a taste of what will cross the auction block at Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers’ Fall Antiques, Fine Art, Firearms & Asian Auction, online and in the gallery at 63 Fourth Avenue in Cranston. Internet bidding will be available through Bidlive.Bruneauandco.com, Invaluable.com, LiveAuctioneers.com and Bidsquare.com. Phone and absentee (left) bids will also be accepted.

The nearly 500-lot auction has a 12 o’clock noon (Eastern) start time and will be preceded at 10 am by a live-only DiscoverIt sale (no online bidding at all). But the 12 noon auction event is the undisputed headliner. “The fall afternoon auction should be an exciting one, featuring a diverse collection of Asian art not usually seen in our estate auctions,” said Kevin Bruneau, company president and auctioneer. “It’ll be a great opportunity for collectors to take home a prized piece.”

The auction will open with 60 lots of American and European fine art, led by the oil on board painting by William Aiken Walker, depicting an older female sharecropper hoeing a cotton field with a bright blue sky and cloud-filled background. The diminutive work, just 4 ¾ inches by 9 ¼ inches, is signed lower right by Walker and is in good original condition (est. $5,000-$8,000).

Staying in the category, an oil on canvas illuminated Surrealist landscape painting by Karnig Nalbandian (R.I., 1916-1989), artist-signed and dated 1969, has an estimate of $1,000-$1,500; while an oil on canvas Impressionist winter landscape painting by John Nichols Haapanen (Mass./Conn., 1891-1968), signed and professionally restored, should command $800-$1,200.

The second portion of the catalog will feature over 40 firearms, highlighted by the Westley Richards double-barrel shotgun, with a $3,000-$5,000 estimate. “It’s always gratifying to pull a diamond out of the rough,” said Travis Landry, Bruneau & Co. specialist and auctioneer, “and finding the English-made Westley Richards shotgun in a batch of traditional American shotguns was certainly that. It will be interesting to see what the market bears for an original survivor.”

Portion three of the sale will offer more than 250 lots of antiques and decorative arts, to include a McIntyre School (Salem, Mass.) Federal mahogany card table, made circa 1810 and in overall good condition (est. $400-$600). The handsome table stands on tapered, spiral-form legs with acanthus leaf capitals supporting a serpentine top with a nice book matched mahogany veneer.

The aforementioned set of 12 Mintons for Tiffany scenic porcelain bird plates, decorated by Albert H. Wright, is another expected star of the decorative arts category. Each plate is 8 ¾ inches in diameter and is naturalistically decorated with a different breed of duck within an individualized landscape framed by a gilt rim and artist signed “A.H. Wright” (est. $800-$1,200).

Also sold will be a large (63 ½ inches by 47 ¼ inches) late 19th century French Art Nouveau cognac advertising poster, designed by Camille Bouchet and depicting a male peacock perched on a wall with his claw resting on a bottle of cognac (est. $800-$1,200). The category will also feature 25 lots of firefighting memorabilia and over 25 antique Oriental and Persian carpets.

The Asian category Mr. Bruneau enthused over represents the final portion of the catalog, with more than 190 lots, highlighted by the Chinese Ming dynasty Junyao purple splashed footed pottery bowl (est. $2,000-$3,000). The bowl, 6 ¼ inches in diameter, is finished in a cloudy blue glaze liberally decorated with a lavender splash to the interior. It sits on a tall, unglazed foot.

The category will also feature an 18th century South Indian gilt bronze copper alloy figure of Vishnu, finely cast with an elegant stance and serene expression, 10 ¼ inches tall with stand (est. $1,000-$2,000); and a pair of 19th century Chinese pewter glass eye deer, 8 inches tall on carved hardwood hexagonal bases, with the deer ebulliently modeled and whimsical (est. $800-$1,200).

Within the Asian arts section there will also be a fine Chinese Kangxi period baluster form vase, more than 25 lots of snuff bottles and a nice selection of carved jade, jadeite and hardstone.

Previews will be held on Thursday, Sept. 14th, from 9-5; Friday, Sept. 15th, from noon to 9 pm; and Saturday, Sept. 16th, the date of auction, from 8 am until the start of sale at 12 noon Eastern.

Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers has two more live-only DiscoverIt auctions planned, with no internet bidding, both in the Cranston gallery. The first will be a toys, comics and collectibles auction on Monday, Sept. 25th, at 6 pm Eastern time. The second will be an estates auction on Monday, Oct. 2nd, also at 6 pm Eastern. Then, on Saturday, October 28th, a toys, comics and collectibles sale will be held, with over 500 lots already in, followed by a huge fall auction on November 25th.

To learn more about Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers and the Sept. 16th two-session auction, visit www.bruneauandco.com. To contact Bruneau & Co. via e-mail, use info@bruneauandco.com.

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