LARCHMONT, NY.- An embarrassment of riches will cross the block at Clarke Auction Gallery on Sunday, Sept. 12, at 10 am. The auction gallery always has a fine selection of objects but this important auction features especially choice offerings. Online bidding is available through ClarkeNY.com, LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, and Bidsquare.

“Excitement among buyers has been ramping up all year and in kicking off the fall auction season this month, we have a really nice grouping of antiques, art and objects across the board from quite a few estates,” said owner and auctioneer Ronan Clarke. “We have great things ranging from designer items and midcentury modern furniture to beautiful jewelry and silver.”

Sure to be a standout is a fine jade, lapis, and enamel clock ($80/120,000), ex-Sotheby’s and attributed to Cartier, that features a beautifully-incised archaistic style jade vase with tube form handles and gold mounts. The clock stands just over 11 inches tall and has carved lapis lazuli finial with onyx and probably carved agate on the lid along with vibrant floral enameling on the clock dial. “This is an extraordinary carved jade with vibrant use of colors throughout the enamel work and Art Deco charm — an absolute once-in-a-lifetime treasure,” said Whitney Bria, Clarke’s jewelry and silver specialist.

Looking for just the right standout piece for your home? On offer here will be a signed Tiffany Studios table lamp having an 18-inch shade decorated with a floral pattern on a Lily Pad base and a Philip and Kelvin LaVerne “Eternal Forest” coffee table, circa 1969, having an acid-etched, enameled, patinated brass and pewter-clad surface over wood. Each is estimated at $8/12,000.




The artwork in the auction ranges from native art to Abstract Expressionism and many artists and styles in between. Highlights include a grouping of five acrylics on canvas by Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1910?-1996), an Aboriginal-Australian artist who had no formal training as an artist but learned in the Anmatyerre tradition. The five paintings, conservatively estimated at $20/30,000, are part of her “Yam Drawing” series and were done in 1996.

“She was one of the great Aboriginal painters and pretty widely heralded,” said Clarke’s fine art specialist William Schweller. “I think what makes these interesting is they are these beautiful lyrical abstracts but they were developed independently of Western painting. She lived in the Northwest Territories of Australia and did not have contact with the art world so these are really fascinating and mystical pieces.”

About 4,000 miles away, Japanese-American artist Kenzo Okada (Japanese-American, 1902-1982) was also creating artworks around the same time but in a very different style. His signed oil on canvas, “Unsolved,” will highlight this auction ($8/12,000). It measures 44¼ by 56¼ inches. The artist came stateside in the 1950s and threw himself into Abstract Expressionism, Schweller said. “He exhibited at the Betty Parsons Gallery. This painting was shown there and he was part of that greater New York school milieu,” he said. “His work gets really praised for its economy of form and he displays a lot of restraint in his abstracts.”

Highlighting the jewelry and watches category is a large collection of men’s watches from several estates, including a Rolex Viceroy, Rolex Bubbleback, Tiffany, Le Coultre Memovox, Chopard, Glashutte, Omega, Rolex Submariner, and a Rolex Oyster Perpetual.

“From a White Plains, N.Y., collection, we are pleased to present a pair of French .950 silver Noble candelabras with an interesting provenance,” Bria said. “The consignor’s grandfather was once the president of Turkey and was gifted these candelabra from the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch, Athengora.” The pair is estimated at $7/9,000. Also from this state comes a four-piece Persian silver samovar (4/6,000), and a pair of Italian O. Pini 19th Century silver candelabra with dog form finials ($2/3,000).

Rounding out the auction will be a Rene Lalique Coquelicots chandelier ($6/9,000), a Cellini hand made Graff, Washbourne & Dunn sterling flatware set ($2/3,000) and a limited edition Chanel Strass mini flap bag ($4/6,000).