Art has pulling power in Melbourne antiques and art auction

Several paintings by leading Australian artists including Cressida Campbell, Arthur Boyd and David Boyd are among the highlights of Melbourne-based Christian McCann Auctions forthcoming French and English Antiques and Fine Art online sale from 12pm Sunday October 3.

Due to current Victorian COVID-19 restrictions, all viewing is online with items to be sold by bidding online, over the phone or via absentee bids.  

Of particular interest is Cressida Campbells watercolour on incised woodblock entitled Fruit and Vegetables (lot 40) with a catalogue estimate of $50,000-$75,000.

Arthur Boyd features prominently with Lovers in a boat circa 1994 (lot 41) while David Boyd’s Children at the Beach with Cockatoos (lot 3) carries a $20,000-$30,000 estimate.

Other artists’ works to figure prominently are Pro Hart’s View through a Window (lot 13), Robert Edgar Taylor Ghee’s Cattle at Farmhouse (lot 17), John Perceval’s Sunflowers (lot 23), John Olsen’s archival pigment on paper entitled Monkey (Vervet) (lot 24) and Garry Shead’s Italy (lot 25).

Signed and dated Garry Shead 08 and from Sydney’s Lucios Collection, this oil on board was painted one year prior to the artist’s collaborative entry with Adrienne Levenson for their Archibald Prize winning entry entitled Soffritto do Lucio, a painting of Lucio Galletto – owner of Lucio’s Italian Restaurant in Paddington, now residing in Canberra’s National Gallery.

This auction painting again positions a Lucio(esque) figure against the village of Ameglia, the area in which Lucio Galletto was raised.

Imported French and English furniture including ormolu mounted boulle salon and fine marquetry inlaid pieces such as lot 26, a serpentine shaped table on cabriole legs with a $10,000-$15,000 estimate, and lot 10, a George III half round card table, are other strong attractions.

And buyers should be impressed with antique Sevres and Royal Worcester porcelain like lot 21, an early 19^th century two handled lidded vase with a hand painted central panel showing sheep grazing in front of an English manor house, and lot 30, an exhibition quality pair of 19^th century French lidded vases with hand painted central panels showing romantic couples.

Another quality item is the large 19^th century French Sevres ormolu mounted comport (lot 7) showing a young lady with her dogs, along with the English sterling silver Shieffield three-piece tea set dated 1853 from maker J. Dixon and Son and an exceptional pair of 19^th century French ormolu and silvered bronze candelabra (lot 29).

Timepieces like lot 45, a 19^th century French boulle dome topped salon clock from A. Brocot & Delettrez of Paris, and a 19^th century French serpentine shaped boulle salon clock (lot 1), will no doubt interest collectors – while intriguing is the tall pair of 19^th century French tazzas (lot 5) and 18^th century bronze figures on Sienna marble bass depicting a sailor and his partner (lot 11).