A set of four atlas portfolio volumes of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America, a felt on paper artwork by pop art icon Keith Haring and oil on canvas paintings by acclaimed painters E. S. Cooper and Eugène Louis Boudin are just a few of the expected top lots in Crescent City Auction Gallery’s September Selects Auction slated for September 9th and 10th.
The auction, starting at 11 am Central time on Friday and 10 am on Saturday, will be packed with 842 choice lots in a wide variety of categories. Bidding is available online, as well as in the Crescent City gallery located at 1330 Saint Charles Avenue in New Orleans. In-person gallery previews will begin on Wednesday, August 31st, from 10-5. Phone and absentee bids accepted.
The Birds of America four-volume set by John James Audubon (1785-1851), plus other volumes (11 pieces total), is a limited-edition full-size facsimile, with color reproductions of the full set of ornithological illustrations. It’s a reproduction of National Audubon Society’s copy, one of 350 sets printed in 1985 by Abbeville Press (N.Y.), and contains 435 double elephant folio unbound color plates and four octavo text volumes bound in green leather gilt (est. $10,000-$20,000).
The felt pen on paper by Keith Haring (N.Y., 1958-1990), is titled If You Want to See More….. (1984), and has writing on the bottom that reads, “If you want to see more….New works by Keith Haring now until Jan. 07, 1984”. It’s also signed lower right and bears a “Keith Haring Estate” stamp on top right verso. The piece is presented between two glass sheets and is nicely housed in a gold leaf frame that measures 12 ¾ inches by 9 ¾ inches (est. $10,000-$15,000).
The oil on canvas painting by E. S. Cooper, titled Wooden Bridge in a Louisiana Bayou Landscape (1888), is artist signed and dated lower right and comes in a wood frame measuring 27 ¾ inches by 39 ¼ inches (est. $20,000-$40,000). The work is included in the book Louisiana Painters and Paintings: from the Collection of W. E. Groves. An almost identical painting by William Henry Buck was sold at auction in 2005, suggesting Buck could have had a student.
The 19th century oil on canvas painting by Eugène Louis Boudin (French, 1824-1898) is titled Bateaux sur la Plage de Bretagne and is signed lower left, with an old gallery label about artist and painting attached on verso. It’s presented in a gilt frame measuring 19 ¼ inches by 29 inches (est. $10,000-$20,000). Boudin was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. He was a marine painter, an expert in rendering all that goes upon the sea and along its shores.
A framed gouache on paperboard by Howard Pyle (Del./Pa., 1853-1911), titled The Promenade and the Reverend (1882), signed and dated lower right, with a photocopy about the artist from the Biological Sketches of American Artists attached on verso, should finish at $6,000-$9,000.
An oil on canvas painting by Mexican artist German Gedovius (1867-1937), titled Woman in Archway, Mexico (circa 1903), artist signed and dated lower right and nicely housed in a gilt frame measuring 18 inches by 15 inches, is expected to change hands for $7,000-$12,000.
A lovely late 19th century group of 38 pieces of rare U.S. Revenue Cutter china, by Greenwood China (Trenton, N.J.), with floral decoration showing the U.S. Revenue Cutter insignia, has a pre-sale estimate of $7,000-$12,000. The dinner plates each measure 9 ¼ inches in diameter.
Period French and American furniture, a staple at Crescent City Auction Gallery sales, will feature several outstanding pieces on September 9th-10th. A few nice examples are as follows:
– A Louis XV style 3-piece ormolu mounted kingwood bedroom suite, consisting of a marble top nightstand, a matching double bed and a single-door armoire with an arched crown over a mirror door with a central oval Sevres style plaque (est. ($4,000-$6,000)
– A 19th century Venetian sleigh form figural grotto rocking chair, the seashell carved plank seat and back panel with figural dolphin arms, on long carved rockers with dolphin heads and serpent-like dragon supports, in a silvered and gilt washed finish (est. $3,000-$5,000)
– A circa 1825 American classical carved mahogany armoire, probably New York, the stepped crown over an arched frieze above 2 paneled doors, flanked by turned cylindrical and square plinth columns, 92 inches in height by 65 inches wide (est. $1,500-$2,500)
– A 19th century American carved mahogany full tester bed, probably New Orleans, with a shell carved serpentine headboard supported by cluster column posts (est. $1,000-$2,000)
A hand-painted porcelain pitcher signed by Rudolph T. Lux (German, New Orleans, 1815-1858), with a hand-painted portrait of John H. Keller in front of his soap factory, the gilt decorated lip with gilt letters “John H. Keller” signed left, 9 ½ inches tall, should command $2,500-$4,500.
Internet bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com and BidSquare.com. Absentee and phone bids will be accepted until 1 pm Central time the day before the auction. A 25 percent buyer’s premium will be applied in-house (three percent discount for cash or check). A printed catalog is available; call 504-529-5057 or email info@crescentcityauctiongallery.com.
For more information regarding the September Select Auction slated for Friday and Saturday, September 9th & 10th, please visit www.crescentcityauctiongallery.com.
