A few examples of appraisal values for
WOMAN END TABLE

• EDWARDIAN MAHOGANY ENVELOPE GAME
  EDWARDIAN MAHOGANY ENVELOPE GAME TABLEEDWARDIAN MAHOGANY ENVELOPE GAME TABLE English, late 19th- early 20th century. The top with four triangular panels opening to baize game surface and chip wells, the apron with a single drawer and raised on square, tapering legs with raised shelf stretcher and ending on spade feet. 29 x 20 1/2 x 20 1/2 in. (73.66 x 52.07 x 52.07 cm.), open: 28 1/2 x 29 x 29 in. (72.39 x 73.66 x 73.66 cm.) The Wallace Estate: Lee Renfrew Wallace and her husband Mahlon Brookings Wallace III lived an extremely happy and luxurious life filled with world travels, safaris, collecting, and philanthropy. From backgrounds in race-horse breeding and championship cattle ranching, the socialite couple paid homage to the St. Louis area community in a variety of ways. Mr. Wallace served as Director of Commerce Bank, President of the St. Louis Zoo Friends Board, and was charitable to numerous organizations he believed in. Behind every great man is a better woman, and his wife Lee was renowned for being the glue of the family while she warmly served as Director of Development for local educational institutions and made an impact with her lasting spirit. The couple’s art collection ranges in style and period and spans a broad price-point.
• Y RARE AND IMPORTANT FRENCH
  Y RARE AND IMPORTANT FRENCH GOTHIC IVORY COMPOSITE CASKET CIRCA 1330 the panels intricately carved in bas-relief to include scenes from the Medieval tales Queste del Saint Graal and Tristan & Isolde, with later brass brackets, straps and handle25cm wide, 11cm high, 13cm deepProvenance: Property from Tornaveen House, AberdeenshireCurrently only eight other complete secular ivory coffrets like the present one are known. These so-called composite caskets are mostly in important museum collections around the world.[1] With all panels intricately carved in bas-relief, the high quality of the workmanship is immediately visible, while a closer look reveals the richness of the motifs. It gives us a beautiful insight into the medieval fascination with the concept of courtly love.The present example likely originated in a workshop in Paris around 1330, due to the similarities with the existing ones. The exact meaning behind the iconological programs of these caskets has long been a subject for discussion between scholars.One thing the panels on all these caskets have in common is the link to medieval courtly literature, tales of love usually between knights and noble ladies emphasising nobility and chivalry, popular in Europe since around the time of the First Crusade in 1099. On this coffret, the two main tales the panels relate to are most likely Tristan and Isolde, and the Queste del saint grail.[2]The two panels on the right side probably refer to the famous medieval romance, Tristan and Isolde. This tale, based on a Celtic legend, centres around the young knight Tristan, who travels to Ireland to ask for the hand of princess Isolde on behalf of his uncle King Mark of Cornwall. After slaying a dragon there, the princess agrees to marry King Mark. On the journey back Tristan and Isolde drink the love potion prepared by the queen for her daughter and King Mark and fall for each other. The main part of the romance is focussed on King Mark trying to prove their secret love affair and punishing them.Although this legend has been retold many times, one of the most popular ones is the version by Béroul, a Norman or Breton poet of the 12th century. According to his account, King Mark asks King Arthur to try his wife Isolde at court for her unfaithfulness. To have Isolde exonerated from the charges, she and Tristan concoct a clever ruse. Tristan disguises himself convincingly as a poor leper, begging for alms on the banks of the river Malpas. When the royal party arrives, he carries her across the river, so Isolde can truthfully swear in front of the court that “no man ever came between my thighs except the leper who carried me on his back across the ford and my husband, King Mark”. This oath was seemingly so convincing, that everyone hearing it applauded it, and King Arthur made Mark promise to never slander her again.The front left panel shows Tristan carrying Isolde across the river, her headdress clearly indicating she is a married woman. After Isolde is safe, Tristan dresses up as the Black Knight and joins the jousting, a scene represented on the left end panel of the casket.The carvings on the front right and right end panel allude to another preeminent story, the Queste del saint grail, the story of the fabled Holy Grail, part of the Arthurian Legend. It begins at King Arthur’s court with a gathering of the well-known Knights of the Round Table. Just before dinner a sword in a stone appears miraculously floating in the river below the castle. Lancelot’s claims that whoever tries to remove the weapon will be gravely wounded does not deter his companions eager for adventure. Only the recently arrived Galahad can withdraw the sword, which he uses to achieve the quest for the grail.The carving next to the lock on the right of a man presenting his arm with severed hand to a king and queen probably relates to this, he having failed to retrieve the sword and receiving this grisly injury in trying so. The sword over the altar on the right end panel possibly refers to the divine and miraculous nature of the weapon Galahad obtained. The scene on the right end could either show the appearance of the grail just after Arthur, Galahad, and the knights of the Round Table sit down to eat, or when Galahad and his companions finally encounter the grail at the end of the story, or a conflation of the two. That the figure in the middle of the right end panel lacks a crown suggests that he is Galahad and not Arthur. The lions shown on the lid support this identification, as the grail castle was guarded by lions and surrounded by water.The wild men presented in intricate detail fighting to conquer a castle on the lid, and again defeated and in chains on the back panel, are a very popular motif in medieval imagery, ubiquitously represented in art of the highest quality from the early 14th century and continuing well into the sixteenth century[3]. Wild men represented the opposite of accepted standards of society, subliminally implying chaos, insanity and ungodliness. Especially in the 14th century the wild men seem to take on an erotic role, seen storming the Castle of Love in several artworks, one of the most common allegorical scenes in which the winning of a lady’s heart is depicted as the siege of a castle[4]. The carving on this coffret actually is reminiscent of the so-called Academy Casket (see image 1), now lost.[5]Unusual on this panel is the wild man wearing a crown. There are some wild men wearing crowns in 15th century German tapestries (image 2), but we don’t have an explanation why the carver added one in this case.The overall iconography of this casket seems to confirm the general notion that they were made as courting or wedding gifts for noble ladies, personalised to the commissioner’s preferences, as all the panels include notions of love and chivalry, to perhaps represent wishes for the future relationship especially important to the suitor. These very personal meanings have been lost to time, yet make this coffret extraordinarily intriguing.Another element making this casket so significant is the impeccable provenance. We can trace it all the way back to the beginning of the 17th century, as it is mentioned in the family genealogy of the Baird family of Auchmedden[6] in relation to Thomas Baird[7]. According to this text, he became a friar of a monastery in Besançon, Burgundy, in 1615. Letters from his uncle Andrew, who was staying close by in France, to his father Gilbert mention him to be hard of learning and ‘incapable of any of the sciences’. His saving grace was said to being excellent at mechanics, having made ‘an oblong, small chest of ivory 10 inches long, 5 broad, and 4 high, delicately carved in bas-relief, with the chisel, upon the top and sides into figures of knight-errants, distrest [sic] damsels, and enchanted castles, taken from some of the old romances which were so much in vogue in that age’.None of the letters later on in the genealogy indicate as to why the author thinks the casket was made by Thomas Baird, and not just sent over to his family as a gift. We don’t know if it was Thomas himself trying to make up for his shortcomings as a scholar by telling his family he was the talented maker, or if this is down to family lore evolving over the centuries. The casket would have already been nearly 300 years old at the time of Thomas’ acquisition.A footnote in the genealogy places the casket in the editor W. N. Fraser’s possession in 1870, which gives us the firm link to the present-day vendors, who are descendants by marriage of the Baird family.[1] Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 17.190.173, 1988, 16; British Museum, London, Dalton 386; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 146.1866; Walters Museum, Baltimore, 71.264; Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham; Bargello, Florence, 123 c.; Cathedral Treasury, Krakow; Winnipeg Art Gallery[2] Thanks to Paula Mae Carns for identifying the various iconography[3] Timothy Husband, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gloria Gilmore-HouseMetropolitan Museum of Art, 1980, p. 4[4] Timothy Husband, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gloria Gilmore-HouseMetropolitan Museum of Art, 1980, p. 73[5] The location of all panels from this dismantled casket is unknown, apart from the back panel which is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (2003.131.2). This casket is known from an eighteenth- century engraving (see Lévesque de Ravalière).[6] Genealogical collections concerning the sir-name of Baird, and the families of Auchmedden, Newbyth, and Sauchton Hall in particular : with copies of old letters and papers worth preserving, and account of several transactions in this country during the last two centuries: Baird, William, 1700 or 1701-1777, edited by W. N. F. Fraser, London 1870, page 21[7] The exact dates for Thomas Baird are unknown, however he is known to be the third son of Gilbert Baird (1551-1620), and he resided in France from at least 1609.Note: Please be aware that this lot contains material which may be subject to import/export restrictions, especially outside the EU, due to CITES regulations. Please note it is the buyer's sole responsibility to obtain any relevant export or import licence. For more information visit http://www.defra.gov.uk/ahvla-en/imports-exports/cites/
• TWO PAIRS ANTIQUE GOLD
  TWO PAIRS ANTIQUE GOLD EARRINGScannetille and resin design, cannetille tested 18kt. yellow gold, 2 x 3/4 in., 7.8 grams; girandole design drop earrings, seed pearls, table cut rubies, blue enamel, mounting tested 14kt. yellow gold, stamped "ET", 2 x 1-3/4 in., 23.3 grams Provenance: Estate of the Artists James McBey and Marguerite McBey, London, England; by descent in family Note: In 1980, Marguerite Loeb McBey donated a group of similar jewelry to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Items were highlighted in an exhibition titled "The Eighteenth-Century Woman, An Exhibition at the Costume Institute, December 12, 1981." To view Marguerite McBey's collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art please visit: https://www.metmuseum.org/search-results#!/search?q=marguerite%20mcbey&orderByCountDesc=true&page=1 Condition: cannetille and resin, one earring misshapen at bottom and missing finial- appears to have lead solder from previous repair, tarnish, dents- one earrings entirely missing pearls, other with heavy pearl losses- some strings visible, losses to blue resin; drop earrings, enameled parts appear to be non-gold, tarnish, some ends of wire wrapping for pearls untwisted, likely not on original earhooks
• (3) FRENCH FIGURAL MANTEL CLOCK &
  (3) FRENCH FIGURAL MANTEL CLOCK & GARNITURES(lot of 3) French mantel set, late 19th c., including: (1) shelf clock, with patinated metal sculptural figure of a seated woman playing the mandolin, table with open music book, glazed dial door, opening to painted enamel fancy dial, signed Bollot-Lemoine, St. Quentin, with black Arabic numbers, gilt arabesque hour and minute hands, time-and-strike movement, works stamped Astra Mousin, all rising on rectangular marble base, ending in toupie feet, intact with restoration to hair, retaining bell, lacking pendulum and key, approx 21"h, 23"w, 8.75"d; (2) urn-form garnitures, rising on stepped marble base, approx 16.5"h, 7"w, 6"d; 78lbs total
• GROUPING OF VANITY ITEMS AND
  GROUPING OF VANITY ITEMS AND SMALL TRINKETS2 cut glass scent bottles. .800 silver Dresden souvenir spoon with enamel handle. Pair of small reticulated metal bowls with flowers. .800 silver monogram wax seal. Woman's pocket watch. Made by Ideal USA. Missing handle. Not tested. 1 1/4" Diameter Geneva Quartz Stainless steel woman's wristwatch. 7" length, 2 1/4" Diameter, losses to patina. Sterling silver miniature table clock. Opens at the back. Monogrammed on the top. Marked on the bottom. 1 1/8" x 1 1/8" x 2". Silver plated salt holder with three legs. 2 1/4" H x 1 5/8" Diameter. Pair retractable pencil and paper holder, embossed metal with rings at the end. 1 7/8" Length. Sterling baby rattle on a mother of pearl ring, Marked on verso. Small sterling snuff box. Small tin container with color glass window, inside a small statue of Baby Jesus. 2 Mexican sterling money clips. 1 mother of pearl money clip. Small powder box with 2 powder puffs, mirror. Metal crucifix with stations of the cross on verso.
• Capodimonte fine porcelain
  Capodimonte fine porcelain figural group sculpture. Depicts four men and a woman around a card table. Marked with inlaid porcelain plaque at reverse which reads ''Capodimonte Made in Italy''. Signed illegibly at base of front see images. On Green fabric base. Condition: most likely a professional restoration to base edge of reverse side small loss to hair on the woman loss to cigar on man with newspaper in pocket possible loss to bottom of ammo strap on gun leather strap on gun has come unglued on one end see images. Measures 12.5'' tall x 20'' wide. Shipping weight 26 lbs.UPDATED 1/10/12: Updated condition to include losses to hair cigar and strap.
• ART NOUVEAU STYLE BRONZE FIGURAL
  ART NOUVEAU STYLE BRONZE FIGURAL TABLE LAMP; a young woman with long hair and dress leaning forward holding twin shafts ending in iridescent yellow art glass shades raised on shaped base. Height: 16.25 inches. The lamp and glass shades are in very good condition with minimal wear and no visible chips or repairs.
• ? PAIR OF GEORGE III SATINWOOD
  ? PAIR OF GEORGE III SATINWOOD AND MARQUETRY DEMILUNE CONSOLE TABLES, ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS CHIPPENDALE CIRCA 1760 the semi-elliptical tops inlaid with fan medallions and wide bands of leaves and anthemion, enclosed by narrow borders of anthemion and leaves separated by inlaid dot banding, the edges in Greek key, above friezes inlaid with conjoined floral paterae between carved leaf tip moulding and Vitruvian scroll inlay, raised on slender square tapering legs headed by carved elliptical paterae and inlaid with pendant husk trails ending in crisp laurel leaf carved square toupie feet(2)115cm wide, 91cm high, 48cm highProvenance:Purchased Arthur S. Vernay, Inc., New York, 1920sThe Collection of Mrs. John Rovensky, sold Sotheby's New York, 26 January 1957, lot 632Sotheby's London, 3 June 1977, lot 137, where purchased by the vendor's family and thence by descentNote:This pair of demilune console tables with their fine inlay and marquetry details demonstrate the Neoclassical influence gaining in popularity in the second half of the 18th century. While deceptively simple in appearance, they are of exceptional quality and workmanship. Utilising a design vocabulary based on Greek and Roman antiquity, they eschew the extravagant excesses of the Rococo. Gone are the curvilinear outlines and scrolling embellishments, replaced with ordered repetition and symmetry. The tables bear design similarities to the famed library table by Thomas Chippendale, made for Harewood House, and commissioned by Edwin Lascelles, 1st Baron Harewood, and now in the collection at Temple Newsam. What is most directly related is the marquetry design of the frieze, with its repeat pattern of linked paterae, interspersed with further elliptical carved paterae. In the Parke-Bernet Rovensky sale catalogue of 1957, the tables are listed as ‘parcel-gilded’, however there is no mention of gilding when they re-emerge for sale at Sotheby’s, London, twenty years later. An examination of the black and white image from the 1957 catalogue shows what appears to be gilding on the carved feet and the carved paterae heading the legs. When the tables appeared at Sotheby’s in 1977, they were then attributed to Chippendale, an attribution that remains today.The New York socialite and heiress Mrs. Mae Manwaring Plant Hayward Rovensky [née Caldwell] was married four times, and was one of the richest women in the United States, with homes in New York City; Newport, Rhode Island; Palm Beach, Florida; Hartford, Connecticut; and Groton, New York. A woman of considerable charm, wit, and beauty, she famously persuaded her second husband Morton F. Plant, to negotiate the sale of their lavish Italian Renaissance Revival mansion on East 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue with Pierre Cartier for a rare double strand of one hundred and twenty-eight natural pearls. Maisie, as she was called, and Morton moved to their new, larger Italian Renaissance Revival mansion on East 89th Street and Fifth Avenue, and Cartier turned the 52nd Street mansion into the Cartier New York headquarters and showroom, which it remains to this day.As well as a lover of fine jewels, Mrs. Rovensky was a collector of the fine and decorative arts, and would have been well-known to all the top New York dealers. When she died in 1956, Parke-Bernet conducted the sale of her estate over two weeks in January 1957, with specialist catalogues dedicated to paintings, jewellery, silver, furniture, porcelain, and works of art. The news of her death, and the auction of her estate, was covered in Time magazine, in a story entitled "At The End Of An Avenue".The present pair of tables were offered in Part Two of the sale, which included the contents of Clarendon Court, Newport, and the final portion of the collection from 1051 Fifth Avenue, New York. Sold as lot 632, they are listed in the sale catalogue as a pair of ‘Hepplewhite’ demilune consoles, having been purchased from Arthur S. Vernay, Inc. New York. Based on the order of the sale and catalogue notes, it is believed the tables came from the Fifth Avenue mansion.Arthur Stannard Vernay (1877-1960) was one of the most successful and influential dealers in English antiques in the United States in the first decades of the 20th century. An Englishman, Vernay was born Arthur Avant but changed his name and came to America as a young man in 1904. By 1906 he had opened his first shop in New York City, called Arthur S. Vernay, Inc. on East 45th Street, near Madison Avenue. From the 1920s he had moved premises to East 54th Street, as well as having a shop in London at 217 Piccadilly, and a summer shop in Newport, Rhode Island. Catering to an elite clientele of New York clients, his roster of customers reads like a who’s who of early 20th century society with names like Vanderbilt, Guggenheim, and Morgan among others. Vernay retired from his eponymous antiques business in 1942, but it continued to operate, undergoing a name change in 1978 to Vernay & Jussel, and continued until 1994, when it ceased trading. Vernay’s extensive sales archives are in the Winterthur library.Literature:Gilbert, Christopher The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, pp. 201-2, 215Mauchline, Mary Harewood House, One of the Treasure Houses of Britain, pp. 86-103Vernay, Arthur Stannard Decorations and English Interiors, 1927
• TWO LETTERS FROM ANDREW WYETH
  TWO LETTERS FROM ANDREW WYETH (AMERICAN, 1917-2009) TO ALICE MOORETwo Letters from ANDREW WYETH (American, 1917-2009) to Alice Moore, Mailed Friday, October 21, 1938 Dearest, I probably shouldn't even hold my head up, you are much too good for me, but I guess you already knew that. The reason I don't write more is that I feel so damn stupid when I try to write to you. When I think of what a perfect woman you are and how lucky I would be if you were my wife just thinking of this is wonderful. But what makes me think that this will never happen is that you get along too well with out me. Oh God! If I was only a man that you loved not for his art but for him self alone, then I would be happy. Go ahead and laugh but you know that I am telling the truth. You are no more in love with me than I am with this table I am writing on. You are in love with what I might do in this world and that's what kills me. Excuse me but I can't help it. It certainly is the [fame?] that people like you for. I certainly raised hell in the Jury in Philadelphia, but I am sick of being soft with people. I will never accept being on a jury again, this is the end, its a complete waste of time. This damn trip to Boston is some more waste of time. Your not loving me and wasting of time are the two things that will keep me away from you. I don't mean that I am wasting time when I am with you, in fact, this is the only time I am not. Excuse this stormy letter will you. You know how I feel, I think. Love Andy Wednesday, October 26, 1938; mailed Wednesday, October 26, 1938 Dearest, I have just arrived home from Boston and I can't do a thing until I write to you and tell you how sorry I am for writing you that very stupid letter. You certainly told [in margin: "I am not a man but I will be a great artist"] the truth when you said I am an idiot. When I wrote you that letter I had been trying to do some painting along with jury duty and what I painted was just terrible and I lost my temper with every thing. I don't want you to believe a thing I said against you in that letter and if I hurt you I only pray to God you won't hold it against me long. I hope now that you don't love me too much because I would be a great disappointment to you as a [crossed out "husband"] man. I am saying this because I think more of you than any woman I have ever met. The truth is, I am not good enough for you. This is the first time I have told anyone how weak I am. This I am telling you so that you will see clearly what a fool person I am to waste your time over. This very minute, as I sit here, I haven't a cent to my name. You see, all my life I have just painted, until you came along, I had never noticed women and then when I did see you it took me off my feet. When you say I don't love you, you are wrong, terribly wrong. If I was only in the position to come and get you, everything would be perfect but the truth is I am not. The only thing I can do is work hard. But it is wrong from me to ask you to wait because I don't really thinking I am worth waiting for. This, Oh God! is not easy for me to say because I know I need a person like you. Everything depends on the future with me it may be soon or it may be years or it may be never. Now for God sake don't think I don't want you because you are going to see me a great deal, in fact, I will see you in a couple of weeks. Remember this, I spend all of my time painting my sweet and I see no other women. Andy [in margin: "WRITE SOON AND PLEASE FORGIVE ME"] [Accompanied by an exhibition invitation to "Water Colors by Andrew Wyeth" at Doll and Richards, 138 Newbury Street, Boston, October 24 - November 5, 1938] Condition: