We will be selling two drawings by Richard Cosway in our Sept. 22nd Antiques and Fine Arts Auction. Richard Cosway (1742-1821) was a prominent 18th-century British artist especially noted for his portrait miniatures. He is best known to historians as the husband of Maria Cosway, a celebrated artist in her own right who Thomas Jefferson fell in love with in 1786. Jefferson's adored wife Martha had died four years earlier. Richard Cosway's two portraits of young women are done in charcoal and pastel on laid paper. They are lots 1739 and 1740 in the auction and each have a $1,000 to 2,000 estimate. The drawing of the woman standing is dated 1787, just one year after Jefferson fell in love while serving as the United States minister in Paris.

Richard Cosway attended Shipley's Drawing School, the Richmond House Academy, and the Royal Academy Schools. He was elected as a member of the Royal Academy in 1771. In 1781 he married Maria Hadfield (1760-1838), an Italian-born artist and musician who had been educated in a convent in Florence. Their marriage has been described as troubled although Cosway has been given credit for encouraging his wife's artistic talents. The couple was introduced to Thomas Jefferson by their mutual friend John Trumbull in August of 1786, and for the next month they toured through France together. It was during this time period that Jefferson broke his wrist (allegedly jumping over a fence in an attempt to impress her) and hurt his ability to play the violin. In October Richard and Maria Cosway left France for England, and Jefferson's distress prompted him to write his now-famous "The Head and the Heart Letter" to Maria Cosway, an eloquent debate in dialog form between his reason and emotions (the full text of the letter can be read at the University of Virginia's Electronic Text Center website linked in the "Related Articles" section following this post).

We have two fine silver salvers in our May 19^th Antiques and Fine Arts auction. One is a South Carolina coin silver salver by Gregg Hayden & Co., Charleston, South Carolina, 1846-1852. The charger has chased designs and a faux crest to the center with an applied rococo border and curled rococo feet. It is monogrammed and measures 1" high by 8 3/4" diameter. It weighs 14.08 standard or 12.84 troy oz. The South Carolina salver is Lot 1236 in the auction and has a $500-1,000 estimate.

Our second salver is a George III sterling salver. It has a London date mark for 1778, a maker’s mark of J or TH along with a smaller Continental hallmark, either for import or export. The salver has a Chippendale-style border with an armorial crest of a crowned spread wing eagle and a gadrooned rim, and is monogrammed E.W.D. to the back. It is 9 ½” diameter and weighs 18.90 standard or 17.23 troy oz. It is Lot 1426 in the sale and has an estimate of $350-450.

In our May 19^th Antiques and Fine Arts Auction we are offering an extraordinary 18th century Flemish woven pictorial tapestry. It is seven feet high and nearly 10 feet wide with some repairs and fading. It has been backed with modern fabric for support and is equipped for wall display. Tapestries were prized for their decorative value, portability, and for providing insulation from cold stone walls.  It is Lot 1289 in the auction and has a $5,000‐8,000 estimate.

We will be selling a large group of Wedgwood from the estate of Dr. John Biller of Charlottesvillle, Virginia in our March 24th Antiques and Fine Arts Auction.  Josiah Wedgwood grew up among eleven siblings in the pottery manufacturing center of Burslem, Staffordshire.  After serving out an apprenticeship to his brother at the family's pottery works, Wedgewood entered partnerships with two other local potters before founding his namesake company in 1759.  

Wedgwood's relentless experimentation with different clay formulas produced new ceramic products for the market unrivaled in durability and lightness.  The aesthetic forms of Wedgwood products were equally innovative and soon became popular among customers seeking stylish tablewares for their homes.  In a feat of brilliant marketing, Wedgwood's cream-colored earthenware was renamed "Queen's Ware" after Queen Charlotte ordered a set for her personal use.  Wedgwood's innovation also extended to the manufacturing process.  He revolutionized his factories for greater efficiency in ways similar to Henry Ford's assembly line model.

Many of the items for sale on the 24th are Wedgwood's Jasperware design of relief friezes against a solid background, which he developed to be remniscient of ancient Greek and Roman vases.  Wedgwood is still in existence, although recently it has fallen on hard times.  The company was placed in administration and purchased in 2009 by the American private equity firm KPS Capital Partners.  Following this sale, the bulk of production shifted from England to Asia.  The Wedgwood Museum collection is also threatened as in September 2011 a British high court judge ruled that the museum's holdings must be sold to meet an 135 million pound pension deficit.  The museum's collection, which has been recognized by UNESCO for its cultural significance, is a priceless archive of Wedgwood company history, ranging from Josiah Wedgwood's early experiments and manuscripts to 20th century patterns.  Curators and historians worldwide are protesting this ruling.

For further information:

http://www.savewedgwood.org/

http://www.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk/collections

http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/19032012-attorney-general-upholds-wedgwood-ruling

In December 2011 Hampden-Sydney College was the beneficiary of an estate gift of personal property given by Drs. Oscar and Sarie Laserna.  The estate was given for the purpose of endowing a scholarship in honor of their son, Ace Laserna, who is a 1997 alumnus of the college.  The Laserna family holds Hampden-Sydney in high regard and is deeply grateful for the education their son received as a student.  The Laserna family views their gift to the college as a way to help a future young man receive the same wonderful opportunity, and Harlowe-Powell Auction is pleased to have been selected to offer many of the items in this auction.  Each lot from the collection is identified with reference to Hampden-Sydney.
 
Hampden-Sydney College was established in 1775 in a primarily Scotch-Irish area of Virginia approximately 70 miles southwest of Richmond.  A state-wide lottery provided partial funding.  The Reverend Samuel Stanhope Smith was instrumental in the development of the college and served as rector and first president.  Smith's vision for the school was influenced by his own experiences as a student at Princeton (then known as the College of New Jersey).  Princeton president John Witherspoon suggested naming the college after John Hampden (1594-1643) and Algernon Sydney (1622-1683), two English historical figures who were revered by supporters of American independence during the Revolutionary War as martyrs for representative government and civil and religious freedom.
 
After Reverend Smith purchased a library and scientific equipment for the institution in Philadelphia, the first classes were held on November 10, 1775.  The college has remained in continuous operation for over 200 years.  The all-male student body currently consists of approximately 1,100 young men.

We will be selling a piece of Paul Revere silver in our Jan. 28th Antiques and Fine Arts Auction.  The late 18th century Paul Revere coin silver sauce ladle is marked in two places on the back of the handle and monogrammed R.  It is 6 1/4" long and 1.0 standard or 0.91 troy oz.  It has an auction estimate of $2,500 to 4,500.
 
Paul Revere learned silversmithing from his father Apollos Rivoire, a French Huguenot immigrant who came to the American colonies in 1715.  After buying his freedom from an apprenticeship Rivoire established himself as a Boston goldsmith.  He also Anglicized the spelling of his surname to Revere, "merely on account that the bumpkins pronounce it easier," his son later said.  Paul Revere apprenticed with his father and took over the family business at the age of nineteen when Apollos Rivoire died in 1754.  The bulk of his work consisted of silversmithing but Revere also diversified the business, making frames for portrait miniatures, designing copper plate engravings (like his now-famous, highly propagandistic depiction of the Boston Massacre), and even offering dental services in the form of false teeth.  As a result of this endeavor, Revere performed one of the first forensic investigations in America after the Battle of Lexington and Concord when he was able to identify the body of his friend and fellow revolutionary Dr. Joseph Warren by the artificial teeth he had made for him.
 
Revere's artistic skills became an increasingly important tool in the Boston revolutionary movement.  In 1770 a young boy was killed when a British customs officer shot into an angry crowd outside his house.  Revere turned the event into a visually arresting piece of propaganda by staging a public demonstration at his house on the anniversary of the boy's death.  Each illuminated window was decorated with inflammatory scenes including the boy's ghost, the Boston Massacre, and a female figure with a liberty cap representing America standing on top of a British soldier.  Coverage in the Boston Gazette stated, "In the evening, there is a very striking exhibition at the dwelling house of Mr. Paul Revere, fronting old North Square... the spectators, which amounted to many thousands, were struck with solemn silence and their faces covered with melancholy gloom."  The Boston Museum of Fine Arts contains a Sons of Liberty silver bowl by Revere decorated with the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and liberty poles and caps (http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/sons-of-liberty-bowl-39072).  Revere's widely circulated political engravings helped shape popular understanding of current events, and his artisan training allowed him to repair artillery guns for the Continental Army.  Revere returned to his silversmithing business after the war, eventually passing the shop on to a son when he taught himself to cast bell-metal and opened a bell foundry.   

 
Source Consulted:
 
Fischer, David Hackett.  Paul Revere's Ride.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1994.

 In our Jan. 28th Antiques and Fine Arts Auction we will be offering a painting by Gonzalo Carrasco (1860-1936).  Carrasco was a Jesuit priest as well as an artist.  Born in Otumba, Mexico, he studied at National Academy of Mexico, the Prado Museum in Madrid, and St. Simon's Jesuit Seminary.  He later became rector of Puebla College.  Carrasco's artistic talents came to his aid during the Mexican Revolution when he was arrested by General Venustiano Carranza's troops in 1914.  A 1916 article in the New York Times recounts how after six days of imprisonment, Carrasco was told that Carranza would be lenient and appoint him head of the School of Fine Arts provided he gave up his religion.  Carrasco refused to renounce his faith but instead of shooting him, Carranza had him paint his portrait and then exiled Carrasco from Mexico.

 On November 19th we will be offering two Mark Twain letters to Mrs. A. Reeves Jackson along with 1867 photographs of Mark Twain, Dr. and Mrs. A Reeves Jackson, and an extensive collection of Mark Twain memoriabilia.  Mrs. A. Reeves Jackson was the wife of Twain's good friend Dr. Abraham Reeves Jackson.  In 1867 Twain sailed on a cruise of the "Quaker City" as a reporter providing coverage for the "Alta California."  Jackson was serving as the ship's doctor and was featured as a character in Twain's subsequent book "The Innocents Abroad."  The cruise was also the site where the future Mrs. Jackson met both Twain and Dr. Jackson.  Julia Newell Jackson was a reporter prior to her marriage in 1871, and she was also on board providing coverage for a sponsoring newspaper. 

 

Dr. Jackson died in 1892 and in a letter on Villa Viviana Settignano (Florence) stationery dated January 14, 1893 Twain offers his condolences to Mrs. Jackson:
"Jan. 14/93.
My Dear Mrs. Jackson:
A long-wandering newspaper has reached me with the heavy news of your calamity and mine.  Yours is infinitely greater than mine, it is true, and yet the work does justly, in its proper degree, describe what this loss is to me; for it cuts short an intimate + most valued friendship of a quarter of a century, + removes from my narrowing circle one whom I sincerely loved, + whose place none can fill as he filled it.
I offer you my deepest sympathy in your sorrow,  that is all that any friend can do for there is no healing it.
Your friend, sincerely
SL Clemens"

 

The other letter reads:
"The Langham Hotel
July 7

My Dear Mrs. Jackson:
I am very sorry to miss seeing you, but my wife and I leave town tomorrow to be gone a week + possibly ten days; that is to say I shall be gone about ten days, though we are not sure but that she will return at the end of a week.  You do not give your number at the Inns of Court, so I must "chance" this finding you.  Should you remain here longer than the "3 or 4" days" will you send a line to the Langham?
Yours Truly,
Samuel L. Clemens."

 

This letter is undated but has been attributed to the summer of 1873 in an article by Aileen S. Walls of George Mason University also included in this lot.  The two letters are also being sold along with Julia Newell Jackson's ship's passage and itinerary on the "Quaker City," a list of passengers, and photographs of passengers on the "Quaker City," including pictures of Twain, Julia Newell Jackson, and Dr. Jackson.  They are printed "Constantinople" on the back.  Aileen Wells' article identifies Twain referring to what may be his photograph in a letter to Emma Beach:  "Those Constantinople pictures were very bad, though, I might almost as well send you a photograph of the Sphynx--it would look as much like me."  Also included is an extensive collection of Twain memorabilia including a 1942 bill of sale for a portion of the items in this lot indicating that they originally came from the daughter of Mrs. A. Reeves Jackson.  The memorabilia includes a scholarly article titled "Mark Twain and Dr. Jackson" by Aileen S. Walls at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia that drew on information included in the two letters, Samuel Clemens-related newspaper clippings, and handwritten research notes.

     In our November 19th Antique and Fine Art Auction we will be offering a unique historical artifact from the University of Virginia.  Lot 1186 is a 19th century folk art game board from the University of Virginia's Alpha Tau Omega  Fraternity Delta Chapter.  The board is colorfully painted and marked on the verso with UVA and the symbols for the fraternity.  The game board is 15 3/4" high, 18 1/2" wide, 1" deep and has a $500-1000 auction estimate.

     The Alpha Tau Omega fraternity is one of the very oldest at the University of Virginia.  It was established there in November of 1868.  The very first chapter was founded three years earlier in September 1865 at the Virginia Military Institute.  The Southern states lost all 142 of their fraternity chapters during the Civil War.  Alpha Tau Omega was started by a Civil War veteran and VMI student named Otis Allan Glazebrook.  Part of Glazebrook's VMI duties included processing mail intended for the Superintendant General Francis H. Smith, and he was struck by a letter from a Northern fraternity asking for help restoring its Southern chapters.  Glazebrook envisioned the creation of a new national fraternity including men from both the North and South as a way to help heal the nation just beginning to recover from the Civil War.  Many of the future members would be young men who had recently fought against each other in battle and were now finally returning to their collegiate studies.  Glazebrook founded Alpha Tau Omega in his Richmond home along with cofounders Alfred Marshall and Erskine Mayo Ross.  Alpha Tau Omega has grown today to more than 250 chapters and 200,000 members.  Glazebrook later became friends with President Woodrow Wilson and served as a US Consul abroad.