Great Estates: Gunston Hall in Mason Neck, Virginia

Editorial Staff Furniture & Decorative Arts

Down a paved road lined with double rows of Black Heart cherry trees stands Gunston Hall, the elegant yet practical residence built by the celebrated statesman and fourth-generation Virginian George Mason (1725-1792).  Completed in 1759 after four years of construction, the estate’s Georgian façade and animated interiors were designed and executed by two highly skilled English indentured servants, architect William …

More on Manz

Editorial Staff Art

Tiffany and Company. Shreve, Crump and Low. Black, Starr and Frost. Marcus and Company. Gorham. Raymond C. Yard. These are just a few of the prominent jewelry retailers supplied by the German-born New York jeweler Gustav Manz in the first decades of the twentieth century. Hitherto little known, Manz’s work is examined in “Where credit is due: The life and …

Paris prepares for the 25th Biennale des Antiquaires

Editorial Staff Exhibitions

Fall Preview: Paris prepares for the 25th Biennale des Antiquaires Preparations for the Biennale des Antiquaires, which will open on September 15 in Paris’s Grand Palais, are well underway. Although it is the twenty-fifth edition of the Biennale, it is the first under the direction of Hervé Aaron of Didier Aaron, who is the new president of France’s Syndicat National …

Masterpiece London confirmed

Editorial Staff Exhibitions

After months of anticipation, Masterpiece London, the new art and antiques fair from the organizers of the prestigious 75-year-old Grosvenor House Fair, received the permissions necessary to confirm that it will take place on 24-29 June 2010 at the Chelsea Barracks. In spite of the bureaucratic quagmires and delays that these permissions took, those in the know have bet strongly …

Top Lots: 2009 Year in Review

Editorial Staff Art

TOP WARHOLWhat: 200 One Dollar Bills by Andy Warhol, 1962Where: Sotheby’s New York (November 11, Contemporary Art Evening Sale)Estimate: $8-12 millionSold For: $43.7 million A large-scale masterpiece from Warhol’s first series of silkscreened paintings, 200 One Dollar Bills was also from the artist’s second earliest group of serial works. Originally from the collection of Robert and Ethel Scull, the work …

Endnotes: Combat ready

Editorial Staff Art

When visiting the International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Fair in New York in October, I was struck by the imposing arms and armor on display in the booth of Peter Finer of London—enormous poleaxes, a beautifully ornamented Italian half suit of armor, a bronze cannon on its field carriage. It made me stop and wonder idly about how you …

Stampede

Editorial Staff Art

Texas is full of cattlemen, but few with the style and panache of Derrill Osborn, whose “herd” was offered at the Dallas Auction Gallery in October. Best known for shaping decades of men’s fashion—he headed that division at Neiman Marcus for more than twenty years—Osborn has been a “cattleman” ever since his great-grandfather whittled him a little wooden cow when …

This Week’s Top Lots: November 30 – December 4

Editorial Staff Calendar

Sotheby’s London/November 30, Romanov Heirlooms Total: £7 million * 25th wedding anniversary four-color gold cigarette case by Fabergé for Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, 1899 £612,450  (estimate £50,000-70,000) * Jewelled three-color gold cigarette case by Fabergé, 1899-1908 £601,250  (estimate £25,000-35,000) *  Two-color gold and enamel box by Fabergé with a note from Emperor Nicholas II, c. …

Lalique up close at Heritage Auctions

Editorial Staff Art

Starting tomorrow, December 5, New Yorkers will have a chance to see up close over one hundred examples of art glass by René Lalique—one of the leading names in the decorative arts—when Heritage Auctions begins the preview for its inaugural 20th century design auction in Manhattan. For those that can’t make the sale in person, we’ve gathered a slideshow of …