DALLAS – An impressive array of Continental furnishings led Heritage Auctions’ fall Fine & Decorative Arts Including Estates Auction to $1.7+ million, Sept. 12-13. Top lot honors were shared by a pair of Napoleon III marble and gilt bronze seven-light candelabra and a Lemerle Charpentier & Cie French gilt bronze figural mantel clock and thermometer, both of which sold for $25,000 – far exceeding pre-auction estimates. LiveAuctioneers provided absentee and Internet live bidding for the sale.

“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 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, (below) 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 collection of Barbara K. and Stanley G. Cohen, which sold for $22,500 against a $4,000 estimate.

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 included:

• An Italian bone and inlaid sarcophagus wedding casket, attributed to Embriachi, Venice, Italy, 15th century. Price realized: $20,000.
• A French gilt bronze annular clock with sphinx, 19th century. Price realized: $18,750.
• A Brussels historical tapestry from a series of the Trojan War, workshop of Jacob Geubels, late 16th century. Price realized $18,750.
• Carnival at St. Petersburg, 1990, by Mihail Chemiakin, oil on canvas. Price realized: $15,000.

Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.