PITTSFIELD, MASS.- Featuring a curated selection of 700 items, Fontaine’s will highlight the spring season with a two-day auction. The sessions on back-to-back weekends with each offering 350 lots. The first session will take place on Saturday, May 22, at 11 am, followed a week later on May 29, also at 11 am.

The first session will include 19th and 20th Century lighting, art glass, leaded glass windows, timepieces, marble and bronze statuary, American and European furniture and the second session will offer paintings, fine silver, porcelains, gold and diamond jewelry, American and European wood carvings and art pottery.

“We have been gathering items from coast-to-coast over the last few months and have acquired many high-quality works from renowned artists and makers,” said John Fontaine, owner of Fontaine’s Auction Gallery. “We have our always anticipated diversified selection of fine and decorative art items.”

Tiffany Studios items are always a solid performer here, and this sale features over 60 of them, including a “Moorish” chandelier ($40/60,000), circa 1905, with 16 shades, measuring 34½ by 24 inches, and a 12-light “Lily” table lamp ($30/50,000), 21 inches tall. Small Tiffany objects often command big prices, and this sale features an “Aquamarine” paperweight ($20/30,000), circa 1918, 6 by 6 inches.

Featured leaded glass windows crossing the block will include a Tiffany Studios “Sunset and Evening Star” leaded and stained glass window ($40/60,000), circa 1910, measuring 49¾ by 30½ inches (window). Several by John La Farge are also on offer, including a pair of leaded “chunk jewel” glass windows ($20/30,000) having flowers, scrollwork and geometric panels, circa 1880, each 36 ¾ by 17 inches; and one leaded “chunk jewel” window decorated with flowers, ribbons and geometric panels, 35¼ by 23¼ inches.

The clock category is led by a monumental English carved oak tall case clock ($80/120,000) having a pair of 3-foot-tall putti at the base flanking a central medallion of Sir William Whittington and a date of 1793, standing 11 feet, 10 inches tall. Also highlighting the sale is a R.J. Horner & Co. grandfather clock ($50/75,000), circa 1890, in carved mahogany, having a dial signed “Joseph Jennens, Skinner Street, Clerkenwell London." The case is decorated with winged griffins, female caryatids, scrollwork, filigree and the crest with two maidens flanking a cartouche shield, 120 inches tall.




Fine and decorative arts offerings in the first session will be led by a William Randolph Barbee (American, 1818-1868) marble bust of Venus ($30/50,000), signed and dated “Barbee, 1858,” standing 26½ inches tall; a silver sculpture, “The Outlaw,” after Frederic Remington ($20/30,000), 21½ inches tall; and a Carlo Scarpa “A Macchie” glass bowl ($30/40,000), hand blown and circa 1942, having a 9¾-inch diameter.

The second session will start off strong with several fine European paintings, including an oil on board Paris street scene by Edouard Leon Cortes ($20/30,000), 19 by 31½ inches (sight) and a Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky ($20/30,000) oil on canvas laid on board, “Figures by the Water,” 17¾ by 23¾ inches (sight).

Jewelry figures prominently in the auction with a 14K white gold 3.93-carat marquise diamond ring ($20/30,000) with tapered baguette stones, and an 18K gold, diamond, kunzite and topaz necklace ($10/15,000) centered by a pear-shaped kunzite weighing a total of 8.60 carats.

Among unusual and striking items in the sale is a Lithgow family silver hilted sword ($20/$30,000), circa 1730, 33 inches long, made by Andrew Tyler Bastin. Its cross-guard is inscribed “Capt. Wm. Lithgow/R.L. 1701,” and it is accompanied by a letter from the Massachusetts Historical Society noting its research. Also making a strong design statement is a carved fruitwood cherub mirror from the studio of Valentino Panciera Besarel ($10/15,000), 62 by 49 inches. From the same artist’s studio comes a circa 1865 carved wood standing figure on a plinth, 66 inches tall.

Rounding out the auction will be a pair of E.F. Caldwell bronze candle stands ($20/30,000), 54 inches tall, and a pair of porcelain urns attributed to Tucker Factory ($15/25,000), circa 1830, standing 22 inch tall.

Fontaine’s Auction Gallery is the oldest operating auction gallery in Western Massachusetts. It has earned the trust of collectors, investors and gallery owners worldwide. All cataloged lots receive nationwide exposure to the firm’s database of more than 24,000 select buyers. Fontaine’s Auction Gallery has been voted “Best Antique Auction Gallery” eight times by the public.

Consignments are currently being accepted for the summer and fall auctions. Fontaine’s is actively seeking quality items for all upcoming auctions, to include furniture, lighting, art glass, clocks and watches, paintings, porcelains, bronze and marble statuary, Asian items, art glass and cameo glass, Russian objects, silver, musical, coin-op, advertising, toys, banks, gaming and carousel items.