DALLAS, TX.- An impressive array of Continental furnishings led Heritage Auctions’ fall Fine & Decorative Arts Including Estates Auction to $1.7+ million Sept. 12-13 in Dallas. Top lot honors were shared between a pair of Napoleon III Marble and Gilt Bronze Seven-Light Candelabra and a Lemerle Charpentier & Cie French Gilt Bronze Figural Mantle Clock & Thermometer, both of which sold for $25,000 — far exceeding pre-auction estimates.

“We are always delighted to bring our clients multiple bidders and the full strength of the decorative arts market,” said Karen Rigdon, Director of Silver and Decorative Arts at Heritage. “In many cases, lots saw heavy interest from American, European and Asian bidders.”

The auction saw intense interest in fine furniture such as the Joseph Cremer Regence-Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Mahogany Credenza with Marquetry Panels and Marble Top which sailed to $23,750. The 19th century credenza nearly doubled its pre-auction estimate and came to auction directly from the collection of Carolyn and Austin “Starke” Taylor (1922-2014), whose world-wide travels were commemorated with a rich selection of treasures. The collection’s Pair of Directoire Garden Sphinxes of Madame de Pompador and Madame du Barry, Damparis, France, circa 1795, sold for $11,250 against a $5,000 estimate.

Additional Dallas private collections also performed well such as a Louis XVI-Style Gilt Bronze and Mahogany Vitrine with Marble Top, circa 1900, from the private collection of Barbara K. and Stanley G. Cohen, which sold for $22,500 against a $4,000 estimate.

Heritage’s seasonal Fine & Decorative Arts including Estates auction events are known for offering unusual and distinctive pieces and this event delivered across several categories: A highly-detailed Blanc de Chine, Gilt and Silvered Bronze Figural Clock titled Scholar, Ruler and Wise Man — featuring a lovely wall of gilt bronze grapevines with porcelain flowers elevating a Roman numeral clock 40-inches high — sold for $21,250. Jane Avril, a lithograph in colors by French poster maestro Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec sold for $21,250, a St. Louis Stemware Service for 16, encompassing 100 pieces, sold for $21,250, and a fully-complete egg from the extinct Elephant Bird (Aepyornis maximus) sold for $20,000.

Additional highlights include, but are not limited to:

• Important Italian Bone and Inlaid Sarcophagus Wedding Casket, Attributed to Embriachi, Venice, Italy, 15th century: Realized: $20,000.

• A French Gilt Bronze Annular Clock with Sphinx, 19th century: Realized: $18,750.

• A Brussels Historical Tapestry from a Series of the Trojan War, Workshop of Jacob Geubels, late 16th century: Realized: $18,750.

• Carnival at St. Petersburg, 1990, by Mihail Chemiakin: Realized: $15,000.