Collecting silhouettes

Historically, silhouetteshave had a bad press. So 'cheap' was the art form considered in 18th century France that it was named after a famously stingy minister of finance, Etiennede Silhouette. Yet despite its reputation, the charming depictions won over not just the masses but noblemen and royalty, too.

The object of the day: Flowers on a marble ledge by Elise Bruyere

Flowers on a marble ledge (1776 to 1847 France)
by Elise Bruyere  (1776-1847)

Medium
Oil on canvas

Dimensions
26.00cm wide 37.00cm high (10.24 inches wide 14.57 inches high)

Condition
Good

Description / Expertise
Élise Bruyère was the daughter of Jean-Jacques le Barbier, who was a noted writer, illustrator and painter of French historical scenes. Both Élise and her sister, who was also a painter studied with their father and subsequently with Jan Frans van Dael in his studio at the Sorbonne University. She exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1798 and was to become highly regarded in the male dominated art scene of the early Nineteenth Century, winning a second-class medal in 1827.

Shaker furniture

The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, commonly known as the Shakers, conducted the largest and most successful communal experiment in American history. While today there is only one active Shaker community, with three members, at Sabbathday Lake in Maine, at its height during the mid-nineteenth century, this Protestant sect had more than six thousand members spread across eighteen communities, from Maine to Kentucky. The largest and most influential community was established at New Lebanon, New York, in 1787 and remained active until 1947.

Shakers first came to America from England in 1774. Led by the prophet Ann Lee, this small and radical group of English Quakers believed that the millennium—the thousand years of peace with Christ before the end of the world—was at hand. Known as the Shaking Quakers, or Shakers, because of their penchant for ecstatic movement and dancing during worship (a physical response to their sense of being infused with the spirit of God), these religious dissidents surrendered themselves to God and emulated Christ’s pure and humble life on earth.

The object of the day: A Red and Gray Parrot, and other Exotic Birds, 18th century

A Red and Gray Parrot, and other Exotic Birds (18th century Netherlands)

Author
Anton Henstenburgh (1695-1781)

Medium
Gouache and watercolor, over black chalk, with traces of gum arabic, on vellum, within black wash framing lines

Signed/Inscribed/Dated Signed in gray ink, lower right: AHenstenburgh. fec= (AH in monogram)

Dimensions 29.10cm wide 36.70cm high

Description / Expertise
Anton was the son of Herman Henstenburgh (1667-1726), one of the most skillful and scientifically precise still-life watercolourists of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century tradition. Like Johannes Bronkhorst, who was his teacher, Herman worked as a pastry cook in Hoorn and practised his art as an amateur. Like his better known father Herman, Anton Henstenburgh worked in Hoorn as a painter of bird and flower gouaches.

The object of the day: Maurice Utrillo's painting

Maurice Utrillo - Eglise de la Boissière, Rue Principale 
(1935 France)

Medium
Oil on canvas
Signed/Inscribed/Dated Signed, inscribed verso, and dated 1935
Dimensions 25.50inch wide 19.50inch high (64.77 cm wide 49.53 cm high)
Framed Dimensions 33 inch framed width 27 inch framed height (83.82 cm framed width 68.58 cm framed height)
Literature Paul Petrides, Maurice Utrillo Catalogue Raisonné, 1964, listed, titled as Eglise et rue principale a la Boissière, Ecole, ref #1633

This painting is accompanied by a Petrides Photo Certificate, certification #1.072

The object of the day: Carved Fragment (1550 to 1580 Flemish)

Dimensions
190.00cm wide 36.00cm high (74.80 inches wide 14.17 inches high)
 
Description / Expertise Central section of a large Flemish Oak top frieze from either a cupboard or a screen. It is Flemish Oak, circa 1550 - 1580. The central panel is applied and has immense energy in its depiction of Cupid with his quiver of arrows and a downward flaming torch held towards a brazier. He is flanked by a cloven hooved Satyr on his left and a large and menacing bearded man, possibly Mars, to his right. It is probable from this Classical array that it is a scene representing the punishment of Cupid for the mischeif that his arrows have caused.

The outer sections both have wonderfully carved Renaissance representations, with Mythical Beasts and a fantastical head embedded within foliate motifs together with Classical figures either side of them set within oval framing.
Price gbp 3750.00 (Pound Sterling)

Vintage radios and televisions

The first radio broadcast in the world was made in England in 1922. Wireless preceded it but was used mainly for military purposes. By the early 1920s, crystal sets were the commonest receivers, used in the home by enthusiasts who spent long hours making and operating them. valve sets developed alongside them and by the 1930s, the radio was cased in wood or bakelite.

American Sentinel radio 284 NI, 1945, GBP 800 - 1500

Vienna porcelain

A Vienna Miniature Cup and Saucer c.1900

A Vienna Miniature Porcelain Cup and Saucer c.1900, the cup gilded inside, decorated with a central cartouche with finely hand-painted rural scene on puce ground and gilt.
Dimensions: cup 4.5cm diam x 2.5cm high, saucer 7cm diam. Marks:banded shield mark in underglaze blue.
Excellent condition.

Price: £115

Hummel figurines

Hummel Figurines are finely crafted and rendered by the brilliant artist Berta Hummel borned in 1909. Berta’s creations were inspired by the sights and sounds where she grew up in her rural village of Massing Germany. Hummel Figurines are timeless, treasured worldwide and passed on from generation to generation.
In 1876, Franz Goebel started a porcelain firm near the town of Oeslauby, Germany. After several years of porcelain production in the factory, Franz's son, William expanded the Goebel product line and changed the company name to W. Goebel Porzellanfabrik. Convinced that the American market would assist sales, William developed a U.S. product line and sent his 16-year-old son, Max Louis, to America. By 1911, Max Louis Goebel returned to German to move the factory into the 20th century.