Important Americana at Sotheby's - New York 30 September 2010
On 30 September, Sotheby’s will hold an auction of Important Americana including furniture, folk art and silver. The sale features the Collection of Frank and June Barsalona, a superb group of American folk art including paintings, weathervanes, furniture and other decorative objects. The sale will be on exhibition at Sotheby’s New York galleries from 25 – 29 September, and is estimated at $3,805,000 – 7,568,100.
The Collection of Frank and June Barsalona marks a homecoming for many works of folk art purchased at major Americana auctions held at Sotheby’s in the 1970s and 80s, including the collections of Stewart E. Gregory, Theodore Kapnek, and Howard and Jean Lipman, each of which were instrumental in defining this market. The Collection was formed under the passionate and discerning eye of Frank Barsalona, a talent agent and founder of the first booking agency to focus exclusively on rock groups, and is led by Ammi Phillips’s Portrait of Mary Margaret Deuel (est. $500/700,000). This work was passed down directly through four generations of the Deuel family after 1884.
Outside of the Collection of Frank and June Barsalona, the sale includes important examples of American furniture, folk art and silver. The furniture is led by The Important Corlis-Bowen Family Chippendale Block and Shell-Carved and Figured Mahogany Desk-and-Bookcase, attributed to the shop of John Carlile, Sr., Providence, Rhode Island, circa 1770 (est. $800,000/2 million). A monumental example of block-and-shell craftsmanship from coastal Rhode Island, this desk-and-bookcase was originally owned by Dr. William (1747-1832) and Sarah Corlis Bowen (1748-1825), who likely commissioned it on the occasion of their marriage in 1769. The piece descended through female lines of their family for over 225 years until 1997, when it was sold at auction to its present owner. The Corlis-Bowen desk stands as a major example of Providence furniture, and is one of a small handful of Rhode Island block and shell-carved double case pieces ever made.
