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This likely German Continental silver besamim spice tower was the highest priced lot, and the biggest surprise, of the sale. Standing at 18 inches high, it was won by an online bidder $11,050 ($600/800).
Review by Carly Timpson
ALAMEDA, CALIF. — On May 17, Michaan’s Auctions conducted its May Gallery Auction, featuring more than 600 lots of assorted furniture, jewelry, arts and antiques. Ashton Lyle, Michaan’s business development associate, said, “The pieces were sourced from a number of private Bay Area collectors. The May Gallery Auction included 615 lots and the total price realized was $405,479. Bidders came to Michaan’s Auctions from a number of states across the United States — including California, New York and Texas — and we had international buyers from Europe — including France and the Netherlands.”
Unexpectedly rising to the top of the sale was a Continental silver Judaica spice tower, or besamim, which is used during the Havdalah ceremony to mark the end of the holy Sabbath before returning to daily routines. The likely German ritualistic vessel was around 18 inches tall and covered with foliate motifs and figural cartouches among other designs. Legible marks to the piece included a crowned eagle, an “A” over two stars over “S” and a bull’s head. Estimated at $600/800, the besamim was taken to $11,050.
The next two highest lots in the sale were also surprises for Michaan’s, including the $9,100 realized for a 2004-05 Phyllis Shafer oil painting titled “Caples Lake,” which was estimated at just $400/600 and a Kerman pictorial rug, which exceeded its $400/700 estimate to trade hands for $6,500.
This Kerman rug depicting Naser al-Din Shah Qajar on horseback, with a rod for hanging, 85 by 54 inches total, made $6,500 ($400/700).
Shafer’s “Caples Lake,” a stylized abstraction, or “idiomatic magical realism,” of the California mountainside landscape, features swirling strokes of blues, greens, browns, greys to create the hallucinatory rocks, mountains and sky, while the central lake appears to be still — a calm break in the playful scene.
The Kerman rug depicted the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (r 1848-1896), on horseback and included city scenes, native plants and mountains surrounded by a primarily red floral border. Paired with a rod across the top, the nearly 7-by-4½-foot tapestry had some loss to the fringe and fading throughout; the tapestry was otherwise in good condition for hanging.
Asian porcelains also saw success in the sale. A pair of gilt bronze mounted famille verte punch bowls, in the Louis XIV style, were won by an online bidder for $5,525. The bodies of the bowls were painted with scenes of figures in gardens beneath two bands of scrolling red, yellow and white flowers with blue and green leaves. The gilt bronze mounts included a pierced foliate ring around the top of the bowls, wreathed handles, quadrupedal bases and pomegranate knobs on the lids.
A circa 1840 Chinese export porcelain rose mandarin lidded soup tureen and platter, tureen: 11-3/8 by 14 inches, platter: 16 by 13 inches, was bid to $4,225 ($600/800).
A Chinese export porcelain tureen and platter stand, made circa 1840, was bid well beyond its $800 high estimate to cross the block for $4,225. The tureen and matching platter were painted with famille rose mandarin motifs featuring figures in a garden, in vivid colors of green, yellow, blue, orange and pink. Atop the tureen’s cover was a crest of gilt leaves with a gilt pineapple finial raised above. The tureen also had two leaf-form handles with berries where they met the bowl.
A Tiffany & Co. flatware service in the Hamilton pattern with handles monogrammed “B,” found its new home with an online buyer for $4,875. The service included all the standard dining pieces as well as serving forks and spoons, sugar tongs and a cake server, for a total of 121 pieces.
Two 14K yellow gold necklaces also landed among the top lots in the sale. One, which made $4,550, was set with 30 pear-cut emeralds, each bordered by diamonds and with quatrefoil-form diamond settings between each pear-shaped link. Two additional emerald and diamond pendants hung down in a line beneath a central floral-form diamond setting. In total, the necklace contained approximately 480 diamonds and had a tongue and groove clasp with a figure eight safety. The other necklace was a 26-inch gold rope link chain with a 50 Pesos Mexican gold coin pendant. The 1947 coin pendant was framed by calibre-cut synthetic rubies which were surrounded by a gold rope chain border. An absentee bidder won the necklace for $3,900.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. Michaan’s next auctions, the Summer Fine Sale and The Vito Giallo Collection, will be Monday, June 17. For information, 510-740-0220 or www.michaans.com.
