ASHEVILLE, NC.- The single-owner auction model presents a collection shaped by an individual's taste, expertise and passion. Offering buyers a sense of cohesion, provenance and connoisseurship, it is a format that Brunk Auctions has always found to be particularly successful. Brunk Auctions is delighted and honored to present two important single owner collections June 23 and 24: the Americana collections of Elbert H. Parsons, Jr., and Dr. George and Connie Manger. A sizable selection of Asian art and objects from William Arnett’s Tinwood Foundation are offered alongside lots by other sellers on June 25. All three auctions offer bidders rare opportunities to acquire exceptional, well-documented and published works of art and objects.


Rare Documented North Carolina Blue Painted Blanket Chest Dated 1823.

The first to cross the block, on Tuesday, June 23, will be the Collection of Elbert H. Parsons, Jr., of Huntsville, Alabama, which comprises nearly 200 lots of American folk art, painted furniture, metalwork, pottery, Staffordshire and paintings. Parsons, a long-time collector and meticulous record-keeper, assembled his collection working with some of the leading scholars and dealers in the field. He contributed several objects in the auction to the landmark “American Fancy” exhibition in 2004, as well as many other well-published lots. Original surfaces and vibrant color are hallmarks of his collection and most lots are accompanied by copies of his original receipts, which allow for both experienced and novice collectors to bid with confidence knowing lots had been handled by the field’s most respected collectors and dealers.

Highlights of the sale are numerous and span multiple categories. Exemplary lots include a rare documented North Carolina painted blanket chest that retains its original and vivid Prussian blue paint with cream highlights and cartouche inscribed "Martha Maulden was / born Aug. 19, 1823". The chest was published in both North Carolina Furniture 1700-1900 (1977) and the Chipstone Foundation’s American Furniture journal (2009) and is accompanied by extensive family history.


Rare Stirewalt Miniature Paint Decorated Blanket Chest, Wheatcroft, Walters Benisek, McGehee Lipman Provenance

Also of significant importance is a miniature paint decorated blanket chest by Jacob Stirewalt of New Market, Shenandoah County, Virginia, circa 1850, which has been owned by several noteworthy collectors, such as Howard & Jean Lipman, Don & Faye Walters and Jeremy Banta, as well as dealers Milly McGehee, Walters-Benisek and David Wheatcroft. It was exhibited in 1980 at the New York Historical Society and is included in the corresponding Small Folk exhibition catalog.


Rare New England Pipe Rack in Old Surface.

A New England pipe rack in old surface, ex the Collection of Howard & Catherine Feldman, was published in The Magazine Antiques (1984), while a rare tin pipe box from Yarmouth, Massachusetts, was in the storied collections of Mrs. J. Insley Blair and Charles Woolsey Lyon; both will appeal to savvy collectors looking for superlative early forms.


Important New England Fireboard, Niagara Falls.

Parsons’ fine art selection is led by an important fireboard from New England that depicts Niagara Falls and which has provenance to Daphne Farago and Joel and Kate Kopp. Folk portraits, both miniature and otherwise, are included in the collection, with other strong categories seeing plentiful lots of early stoneware, Staffordshire, and early metalwork.

The collection of Dr. George and Connie Manger, offered June 24, presents 140 lots of high style American furniture, fine and decorative arts, many from Maryland, but all meeting the criteria of exceptional quality, rarity and condition; publication and exhibition history are also thoroughly documented. Another consummate archivist, Dr. Manger’s original receipts are included with nearly all the lots.


Important Seymour Federal Painted Mahogany & Maple Work Table.

One of the top lots in the sale will be familiar to savvy collectors. An important Federal mahogany and maple worktable made by John and Thomas Seymour with paint decoration attributed to John Ritto Penniman, Boston, 1800-1810, was the cover lot of an early volume on John and Thomas Seymour and appears in several other scholarly works.

Open-talon furniture made by John Townsend are exceptionally rare and Dr. Manger’s collection includes a magnificent drop leaf mahogany table that has been published in recent scholarship on the cabinetmaker. It descended in the family of Jerathmael and Mary Sherburne Bowers, whose portrait by John Copley is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Early American mirrors that retain the labels of their makers are exceptionally rare and the Manger collection offers a superlative pair made in Boston around 1803 by John Doggett and John Ritto Penniman that was acquired from Israel Sack in 1993. The pair is particularly noteworthy for documenting the collaboration between Doggett and Penniman, two of Boston’s most prominent artisans.


Rare and Important Nest of Seven Nantucket Lightship Baskets Signed Captain James Wyer

Two rare masterpiece nests of late 19th century Nantucket lightship baskets – one of seven circular baskets by Captain James Wyer, the other of six ovoid baskets by Davis Hall - are highlights of the Manger collection, as well as several lots of Maryland redware by such potters as Henry Adam, Peter, Charles, Solomon and John Bell, Jonas Knode, J. Eberly & Co, Anthony Bacher, W.A. Lynn, and J.E. Simons.


Rare Pair 1803 Federal Eglomise Mirrors, Doggett Label and Penniman Signature

William Arnett will be a familiar name to collectors of African American self-taught works of art through Souls Grown Deep, one of two organizations he founded. Arnett’s other foundation – the Tinwood Foundation – is the repository for Asian works of art acquired during his midcentury travels. Of the nearly 300 lots in the June 25 sale, about 250 lots are dozens of jades, bronze and wooden buddhas, porcelains and Javanese stone carvings, while the rest of the sale features Chinese paintings, doors and snuff bottles from other sellers.


Near Pair of Large Thai Gilt Bronze Standing Buddha Figures

Stand-out lots from the Tinwood Foundation include a near pair of large Thai gilt bronze standing buddha figures, a large carved gilt and polychromed seated buddha figure bearing a High Museum of Art loan label and a large Thai carved sandstone buddha head that was exhibited at the High Museum of Art in 1974.

Jade works of art come in the form of belt hooks, plaques, sword fittings, pendants, vases, bi disks and bangles, archer’s rings and snuff bottles.


Chinese Black Lacquered Six Panel Floor Screen

Porcelain collectors will like a blue and white floral vase with mythical beast handles and bearing the underglaze blue reign mark of the Qianlong emperor. Chinese furniture buyers will not want to miss a black lacquered six-panel floor screen profusely decorated with scenes of everyday noble and peasant life, birds and flowers.

Brunk Auctions is at 117 Tunnel Road, Asheville, North Carolina. Bidding is available in person, on the phone, via absentee bid, or online, through BrunkLive, Bidsquare or LiveAuctioneers. For information, 828-254-6846, info@brunkauctions.com or www.brunkauctions.com.


Chinese Carved Jade Dragon and Chilong Belt Hook