Millea Bros. Spring “Select” 3-Day Auction

On May 18, 19, and 20th Millea Bros. throws open its doors to a live, in-person Spring “Select” 3-day auction. Featuring the very best art, design and antiques sourced from prominent New York area estates – the sale includes a museum quality collection of Tribal Art from the Faith and Martin Wright Art Trust, a painting by Fernand Leger, and a published two-sided drawing by Alberto Giacometti.

Lot 1276, George Nakashima, fine sliding-door cabinet, 1958, New Hope, Pennsylvania

Day 1 presents Modern and Postwar Art and Design, including the Leger and Giacometti works. Leger’s ‘Composition’, an abstracted still life gouache on paper from 1949, was acquired in the 1970s by a major Corporate collection, and has not previously been offered at auction. The work retains Richard Gray and Albert Loeb & Krugier Gallery, New York labels, both world-renowned specialists in French post-impressionist and modernist art. The Giacometti drawings, sketched on both sides of a torn page from a French medical journal, are each signature images of the artist; a head of his brother Diego, and a quintessential Giacometti figure on the reverse. The Diego head appeared as the cover image for James Lord’s 1971 monograph on the artist’s drawings. Artwork from the collection of Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason focuses on Post War American and Italian artists and includes Mason, Pat Adams, Guido Strazza, Emilio Scanavino, and Virgilio Guidi. Art and Design highlights from the wide-ranging Collection of a Media Executive features Constructivist drawings by Florence Henri and Lazar Khidekel, photography including Will Wegman, period Secessionist and Swedish Grace furniture, glass, silver and carpets, including rare examples by Josef Hoffmann, Folke Bensow and Kolomon Moser, and French Art Deco designs by Jean Dunand, Dominique and a Ruhlmann attributed table. The collection also includes three pristine Mariano Fortuny gowns. Other design highlights include a fine and early George Nakashima sideboard, Camille Faure enamel vases, and lighting including massive Felix Agostini ‘Titus’ sconces, an 11’ light sculpture by Mundy Hepburn, and a monumental Henri Fernandez, 'Grande Palma' bronze floor lamp from an East Hamptons estate.

Lot 2151, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (attrib.), oil on canvas, Study for Baigneuse se coiffant (Bather Arranging Her Hair, ver. 1893

Day 2 showcases an exceptional selection of American, British, and Continental art and antiques, including a Pierre-Auguste Renoir Bather study from a Park Ave estate. The oil on canvas is likely an early study for Baigneuse se Coiffant (Bather Arranging Her Hair, ver. 1893), held in the National Gallery of Art, in Washington DC. An 1849 Edward William Cooke oil on canvas landscape of the Borghese Gardens depicts the house of the artist Raphael, captured just before it was destroyed during the Seige of Rome. Fine Antiques include a 12 piece collection of rare Art Nouveau Rozenburg Eggshell porcelains, boldly painted on wafer thin and eccentrically molded pottery, and considered the pinnacle of Dutch Art Nouveau design. Similarly, a George Jones 'Chinese Junk' teapot is one of the rarest and most sought-after pieces of 19th c. English majolica, with only three other examples known to survive. A group of 17th and 18th c. English and French furniture from the collection of a French newspaper publisher includes period Louis XIV and William and Mary seating and cabinetry, and signed pieces from Louis XVI-era cabinet makers . A Victorian era Holland & Sons partners desk removed from a British Royal residence includes a letter of provenance from the official registrar of Buckingham Palace. The day concludes with an assortment of antique carpets including rare 19th c. Bessarabian and Persian rugs from the Collection of a Media Executive.

Lot 3204, Important Aleut closed-crown chief hunting hat, Late 18th/early 19th c., Aleutian Islands, Alaska

Day 3 offers Asian and Tribal Arts, including 30 museum-quality examples of African, Oceanic, and Pacific Northwest objects from the Faith and Martin Wright Art Trust. Especially strong in objects from the Pacific Northwest, highlights from the Wright Collection include an important Aleut chief hunting hat, two fine 19th c. Haida raven rattles, and a monumental 18th c. Inuit figurative feast bowl. Assembled in the 1960s and 1970s, many pieces retain labels from 19th c. academic collections, particularly the Beasley and Linden Museums. Chinese art highlights include works from a Private Collection: 1050 Park Avenue, NY, featuring a large Ming-era portrait fresco, fine carved jades, and Ming and Qing era porcelains including a group of unusual Export armorial chargers. Asian arts from the Collection of a Media Executive include a group of Chinese embroidered silk robes, antique huanghuali furniture, and an 18th c. Thangka painting. The collection also features an antiquities group including a 6’ tall ancient Roman mosaic of a leaping panther and a pristine Ancient Inca wool tunic. 

Auctions and previews will be held at the Millea Bros. gallery located at 607 Myrtle Avenue, Boonton, New Jersey. All property will be available for preview on Monday, May 16 from 11am to 7pm, Tuesday, May 17 from 11am to 5pm, Wednesday, May 18 from 9am to 5pm, Thursday, May 19 from 9am to 5pm, and Friday, May 20 from 9am to 10am. In addition to live gallery bidding, online bidding will be available via Bidsquare. For further information, directions and the catalog please visit milleabros.com or call 973.377.1500.