On Sunday, May 22nd Schwenke Auctioneers will auction a diverse group of over 700 lots consigned from 49 separate estates and consignors from Maine, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York. The auction includes over 100 lots of Asian decorative arts, 200 fine art lots, 200 lots of American furniture and folk art, 200 lots of English and Continental decorative arts and over 45 estate carpets, in addition to Native American art, sterling silver, jewelry and garden statuary. The sale marks the thirteenth anniversary of the auction firm founded by Thomas Schwenke which held its first sale in May 2009.

The core of the sale comprises almost 200 lots from the estates of Eve and Peter Mancino of Bridgewater CT. The couple were avid collectors for many years and furnished their lovely hilltop home with fine English and Continental furniture and decorations, sourced mainly from area dealers and East Coast shows and auctions. Featured items include a wonderful large French Charles X mahogany dining table with extension mechanism and six leaves, extending the table to a remarkable size of 78” by 188” when fully assembled. Eight Regency carved mahogany dining chairs and a Regency brass mounted etagere/server complete the dining room ensemble. The entire collection is expected to generate significant interest from dealers and collectors alike.

In addition to furniture, the fine decorations in the collection include a superb pair of George III carved and gilded wood wall brackets with animal hoof detail. A 1968 William Knabe mahogany baby grand piano is also being sold for the estate, offered from the residence and available for viewing and pick up on-site.

The collection of a gentleman from North Carolina is being dispersed in this sale, and the collection has a broad range, including a superb large Persian Heriz carpet measuring almost 12’ by 18’; a fabulous tobacco store folk art figure “The Scotsman”; and a modern painted steel sculptural light “Blue Window Nude”, by Barbara Day Romero (Am. 20th C.) Santa Fe, NM, depicting a female nude at a window, 48” high by 36” wide, and reminiscent of the work of Thomas Wesselman.

Decoys and shore birds are being sold for this collector, as well as a collector from Pennsylvania. The birds include examples attributed to Mason, John Holloway and Jesse Baker, along with shore bird carvings by Harry Shourds.

Native American decorative arts are in abundance in the sale, most coming from an estate in Southbury CT. Several fine bronze sculptural works by Martha Pettigrew will cross the block, plus other works by Carrie Fell (Am. b. 1962) and a compelling oil on canvas titled “Mother and Child, Crow” by Dan P. Bodelson (Am. b 1949), inscribed verso, gallery label verso, "From the Realbird Crow Reservation, MT". Frame size is 18 3/4" high, 15 3/4" wide, provenance Nedra Matteucci Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Several Native American works in silver jewelry are also being sold for two private collectors, including a Zuni inlaid silver cuff bracelet by AD Banteah and a silver Native American coral bracelet.

Sterling silver in traditional forms is also offered in the sale. A private collector from Florida is selling a Continental silver partial flatware service - twenty four pieces total -  signed in Cyrillic "KNIB", with 875, possibly USSR or Ukrainian, comprising six tablespoons, six teaspoons, six dinner forks, and six dinner knives, weighable silver: 34.250 OZT. The Mancino estate includes several fine sterling wares, including an unusual game embossed oval tray by Dominick & Haff “1459/T65” with pheasant design on the wide border rim. From another Connecticut collector is a rare silver basket with swing handle, testing .870 silver, with Hanau hallmarks on base, apparently Storck & Sinsheimer, weight 18.055 OZT.  

Over 85 artworks are being sold for a collector in New Jersey. The works were assembled over many years of collecting and have been tastefully framed and conserved, all with gilt plaques. Standouts include a mountain scene by Otto Sommer, a pair of landscapes by Frank Alfred Bicknell, and a market scene by Polish Artist Erno Erb.

From a Litchfield CT collection comes a Catskills landscape by Alexis Jean Fournier and a fine early 20th century Impressionist scene of a quiet platz in Vienna by Josef Kohlschein, Jr. Among other fine landscapes offered are an Italian Coastal landscape by Angelo Della Mura from a Darien CT estate and a Thomas Robinson pastoral scene from the Mancino collection, as well as a moonlit seascape in the manner of Albert Pinkham Ryder from a coastline CT collection.

The sale features a number of works from CT collections by women artists of note, including a pair of landscapes by Old Lyme School artist Anne Rogers Minor, an American Impressionist portrait of a young girl by Mary Beich McCarthy, and a portrait of confederate colonel and prominent Louisiana physician, Dr. Joseph Leveque, by Ella Miriam Wood.

A counterpoint to the more traditional offerings is a small but potent abstract calligraphic work by the visionary multi-media artist and inventor Brion Gysin, being sold for a shoreline Connecticut collector, and the Wesselman-esque illuminated metal sculpture “Blue Window Nude” by Barbara Day Romero, from a North Carolina collector.

Among many works on paper offered, a first proof etching “Imperial Piety” by George Cruikshank, framed with an original drawing for the print and sold together with an autograph letter from the artist, represents an all too timely political statement on world affairs from the Mancino collection.

Several collections of American furniture and decorative arts are being offered. From the Midwest is a fine Philadelphia carved mahogany wall mirror with gilded shell, bearing the original label of John Elliot, noted Philadelphia maker. Other fine mirrors from various other collections include Hepplewhite, Sheraton and Queen Anne examples. According to Schwenke “the firm has never had a sale with so many wonderful period American, English and Continental mirrors. The Mancino estate includes a rare pitch pediment Georgian example, a bolection molded Queen Anne overmantle three-part mirror, and a heavily carved French provincial mirror. Multiple Federal mirrors in both Hepplewhite and Sheraton forms are included for three other collectors of Americana.”

Other fine American furniture includes sideboards, chairs, chests, tables, corner cabinets, beds and upholstered seating furniture. Specific examples are a Connecticut mahogany lolling chair from the Federal period; a rare Philadelphia four chair-back carved Hepplewhite style settee; a tiger maple tall post bed; a Connecticut cherry serpentine front chest; a fan carved Connecticut cherrywood lowboy; a Portsmouth NH swell front chest attributed to Langley Boardman; a pair of Newport RI carved mahogany Hepplewhite side chairs descended through the E.I. DuPont family and owned by Mrs. F.B. Crowninshield; two Federal banjo clocks, one by S. Willard and the other Horace Tift, North Attleboro MA, and a host of other notable pieces.  

American folk art includes the carved and painted “Scotsman” tobacco store figure being sold for a North Carolina collector, a carved and painted carousel horse being sold for the beneficiaries of a Southbury CT estate, and a folk art portrait of a gentleman with curly hair in a high neck cravat, reminiscent of works by Ammi Phillips.

Among the large group of Asian items is a wonderful Chinese embroidered silk and gold thread dragon textile, with a dragon chasing a pearl and with auspicious symbols on a rich red field. The frame measures 27 1/2" high, 51" wide, and the provenance is property of an Essex, Connecticut estate. A large selection of Chinese porcelain is being sold for multiple estates and consignors, including a 16” Chinese Famille Rose porcelain punch bowl; several Chinese porcelain blue/white brush pots, vases and other forms; several Japanese Imari chargers and vases; a large Japanese bronze urn with foo dog, dragon and elephant head features, signed on bottom, measuring 20" high, 14" diameter; an unusual chinese rosewood altar table with cloisonne inserts, 31 5/8" high, 46 5/8" wide, 16 7/8" deep; a small brass Chinese lidded censer on a carved wood stand, with Buddhist lion and cub finial, dragon design body with figures cast in relief, signed on base, 8 1/2" high, 5" diameter; a rare Japanese black lacquer altar cabinet (Butsudan) in brass mounted footed case with hinged doors opening to a carved and gilded standing Buddha figure within dragon carved and gilded temple enclosure., standing 55 1/2" high, 19" wide, 12" deep. Many other Asian items of interest are being offered.  

Architectural and garden design items are also present. Over a dozen antique wood columns are being sold for a Connecticut collector, and the Mancino estate items include an interesting set of six period Federal shutters in original paint. Also from the Mancino estate are a pair of cast iron urn planters and a wonderful cast iron four seat neo-classical design garden bench. Two pairs of cast concrete Asian theme garden lanterns are being offered for another Connecticut collector, not to mention several other interesting outdoor statuary and decorative items.

The sale also includes over 45 fine estate oriental carpets including Persian, Caucasian and Turkoman room and scatter sized rugs, and other regional and modern rugs of varying sizes. Most notable among the carpets and related textiles are a large Persian Heriz room size carpet, measuring 10’ wide, 19’ 6” long; an antique Joshugan room size carpet, 11' 1" wide, 13' 2" long; and a room size Oushak carpet, 10'2" wide, 13'6" long.  

The catalog for the sale is viewable at www.woodburyauction.com. Absentee and phone bidding are available for this live-online auction by registering directly with Schwenke Auctioneers. The sale will be broadcast for live internet bidding on Live Auctioneers, Invaluable and Bidsquare. Preview begins at the firm’s gallery on Wednesday, May 18th and runs through Saturday, May 21st from 10am to 5pm each day. For additional information please call Schwenke Auctioneers at 203-266-0323.