ALAMEDA, CA.- Michaan’s Auctions will hold two auctions in March, beginning with the monthly Annex Auction from Monday, March 13 through Wednesday, March 15. The March Gallery Auction will follow on Friday the 17th, featuring a unique variety of lots such as a Steinway baby grand piano, a pastel on canvas by Suzanne Eisendieck (German, 1906-1998), jewelry from designers like Tiffany & Co. and David Yurman, and Japanese tansu cabinets.
The Gallery Auction will open with a wide variety of furniture and decorative arts, including a Walter and Berge pate de verre vide poche ($1,000-$1,500). Pate de verre glass, produced by melting powdered glass with binding and coloring agents into a paste, is an Ancient Greek technique that saw a prolific revival in the Art Nouveau period. Walter and Berge are known for producing beautiful floral and faunal pate de verre wares, with this vide-poche featuring dark red berry clusters and green leaves on blue ground. Art Nouveau makes another appearance at the auction with a silver mount pulled feather glass vase ($500-$800), and for the pianist seeking concert quality in their home, the Gallery Auction also offers a Steinway baby grand piano with a bench ($4,000-$5,000).
Fine art in a range of styles will be offered at Friday’s auction, particularly of the 20th century. Among the offered pieces is an etching, Charging Hawk ($800-$1,200), by Edward Borein. Informed by two decades as a cowboy, Borein became one of the most popular artists of western scene painting. He captured images through ink, watercolor, and etching, lending his pieces an active, spontaneous quality. Friday’s auction also brings a pastel on canvas, Woman in Purple, by Suzanne Eisendieck ($1,000-$2,000), a post-impressionist painter known for her depictions of upper class Frenchwomen. Bidders can also find a watercolor and collage on Arches paper, Flowers, by Grace Koo (Korean/American, 1921-2009)($400-$600).
Jewelry in a variety of materials and from a number of designers will be offered at the Gallery Auction, including an Art Deco Tiffany & Co. diamond, enamel, platinum brooch ($3,000-$5,000), a David Yurman sterling silver, 14k gold jewelry suite ($400-$600), and a pair of Chopard diamond, 18k yellow gold “Happy Diamond” earrings ($1,000-$1,500). Earrings of the Happy Diamonds collection contain a diamond gently twirling between two sapphire crystals, adding an extra shine to every turn of the head.
The Gallery Auction will conclude with a collection of Asian art spanning several genres, from famille rose porcelain to Japanese tansu furniture. This includes items like a large Chinese famille rose porcelain figural vase with an inscription ($800-$1,200), and a large Chinese blue and white porcelain dragon moon flask vase ($2,000-$3,000). The offered Asian art also brings furniture like a pair of Chinese carved rosewood armchairs with white marble dream stone inserts ($500-$800), and several tansu cabinets, traditional Japanese mobile cabinetry, including a tansu cabinet with a marble top ($600-$800).
There will be a special section of the Gallery Auction featuring Classic property, offering an array of furniture and decorative arts dating from the Georgian to Victorian eras. These include a Louis XV/XVI transitional marble top walnut commode ($5,000-$7,000) and a hardcover illuminated quran ($7,000-$10,000). A selection of fine art from artists of the 17th through 20th centuries will also be offered at the sale, such as an oil on canvas by Gabriella Rainer-Istvanffy (Hungarian, 1877-1964), Rams ($500-$700), and an oil on canvas by Adrien Moreau, Figures Strolling in the Park ($4,000-$6,000). Moreau was known for producing historical depictions of the French upper class, and his paintings express levity and refinement in equal measure. This is the first piece by Moreau that has been offered at Michaan’s; his work has sold at auction for as high as $75,000.
