The Art and Antiques Dealers League of America will present its Spring Show NYC, from May 3-6 at the Park Avenue Armory. In anticipation, dealers were asked to select a piece for a hypothetical novice and veteran collector. Here are a few of their selections:
Clinton Howell, an expert in 18th- and 19th-century English furniture and decorative arts, will be showing a pair of marquetry-inlaid demi-lune consoles, attributed to the workshop of John Linnell. These fine, circa-1775 masterpieces would be right at home in the decorative arts collection of a museum. For new collectors, Howell recommends a pair of candlesticks made of red-and-green Purbeck marble, found in Dorset in southwest England but no longer quarried, and originally marketed in the early 19th century to the tourist trade.
Hyde Park is putting forth a pair of circa-1765 George III commodes in the manner of Pierre Langlois and bearing the original in-tact paper label: "Formerly the property of Fanny, Lady Leon, Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire." Ripe for a museum, each commode has the three long drawers executed with the finest veneers and retaining original elaborate foliate cast handles and escutcheons (asking price $340,000). Fledging collectors should take note of a circa-1812 Regency rosewood center table with vibrant satinwood banding. It is a superb example of Regency design, with exotic woods and brass-line inlay (asking price $18,000).
Sundial has on view an astronomical skeleton table regulator clock, circa 1842, with remontoire and quarter-striking by Detouche. It is the earliest of only about five really great pieces by Detouche and belongs in a museum (asking price $250,000, pictured below). For someone just starting in the category, there is a circa-1830 miniature English inlaid-rosewood and silver-bracket clock by Payne- a very interesting example of a common model, with a silver dial, wind up/down indicator and balance escapement. A new collector might see others like it, but none would be as good (asking price $11,500).
The mania for all manner of contemporary interior design is reflected in the offerings of Craig Van Den Brulle. For his museum selection, Van Den Brulle points to a Riemann cast-stainless-steel chair, a piece that marks a new period of furniture design as art in the 21st century (asking price $120,000). And for new collectors, he recommends a Jean Claude Dresse etched bronze coffee table with inlayed agate stones (asking price $50,000, pictured below).
The show has myriad merchandise for a variety of tastes, ranging from English, Continental and American furniture, paintings, drawings, sculpture, ceramics, glass and decorative arts; Asian works of art; folk art; 20th-century decorative arts; aesthetic movement and Arts & Crafts furniture; prints, photographs, maps, posters and wallpaper; antiquities and ancient objects; silver and metalwork; nautical art and objects; jewelry; garden ornaments; books, manuscripts and autographs; Chinese export porcelain and decorative arts; Native American and tribal art; carpets and rugs; tapestries; textiles and needlework; and clocks.
Sponsored by Traditional Home, 1stDibs, ASPCA.
