This step tansu is one of four pieces of the Japanese furniture being offered by William H. Bunch Auctions and Appraisals.
Forget your Chippendale, your Sheraton, your Queen Anne. The new kid on the (auction) block is the Japanese furniture style tansu.
An angular wooden cabinetry designed for function and portability, tansu sometimes looks as if it was made from building blocks - particularly in the pieces resembling a flight of steps. If you are not familiar with it, you can see examples of tansu up close next week at William H. Bunch Auctions and Appraisals' gallery in Chadds Ford, where they will be included in the winter sale of fine and decorative art.
The four pieces included in the 425 lots, being sold starting at noon Tuesday, were consigned by a woman who bought them in Manhattan. She is selling the pieces because she is relocating to Rehobeth, Md., and they would not fit the decor of her beach house there, Bunch said this week.
"This is not a style or taste that you often see on the Main Line," Bunch said. "It's a little more New York or Pacific Rim."
Tansu dates as far back as seventh-century Japan, according to various online histories, where it was designed as a cross between furniture and folk art. It came into its own between 1860 and 1910, the Meiji period.
The top piece being sold is a step tansu, 58 inches wide, 70 inches high, and 21 inches deep, with seven steps and about a dozen drawers and compartments. It has a presale estimate of $1,000 to $1,500, according to its entry in the auction's online catalog, accessible at www.williambunchauctions.com.
Also in the sale are a two-part kitchen tansu ($1,000 to $1,500), a small kitchen tansu, and a tea tansu with four wooden sliding doors over two sliding doors of glass (each $400 to $800).
Paintings, ceramics, Inuit art. The top presale estimates, $25,000 to $35,000, are for two paintings: Sunbreak Through Fog, by the early 20th-century American Anthony Thieme, described by Bunch as "great fresh to the market," and a still life with fruit and flowers by the local American artist George Cope. The Cope, which was exhibited in 1978 at the Brandywine River Museum, previously was sold by Bunch in 1998 to its current consignor for $23,000.
The auction also features an assortment of mechanical banks and several pieces of KPM porcelain, notably a plaque depicting a woman in classical garb titled Clementine ($8,000 to $12,000), as well as several novelty items.
Among them are an Inuit carved greenstone sculpture of a man wearing goggles harnessing his dog by the contemporary artisan Adamie Inukpuk of Port Harrison, Quebec ($100 to $200) - a rarity, since Inuit art tends to be anonymously produced - and a red-and-white steel neon vertical advertising sign for Nash automobiles dating to the 1930s ($2,000 to $3,000). The sign was part of a single-owner collection of automobile memorabilia the owner consigned, Bunch explained, because his wife wanted the garage back.
Previews are from noon to 5 p.m. today and Monday and 9 a.m. to sale time Tuesday at the gallery at One Hillman Drive, off Route 202 just south of its intersection with Route 1. For further information, call 610-558-1800.
Wiederseim antiques. Wait a minute: Don't forget your Chippendale, your Sheraton, your Queen Anne. You can bid on items from those classic American styles at Wiederseim Associates' two-day antique auction next weekend at the Ludwig's Corner Firehouse in Glenmoore, along with holiday decor, paintings, and an important early piece of Philadelphia porcelain. The bulk of the auction's nearly 700 lots come from the estate of Gladys M. Lowa of Schwenksville.
Among the more than 400 lots to be offered at the second session, beginning at 9 a.m. Feb. 27, are a rare Sheraton mahogany flip-top gaming table made around 1800, which has a presale estimate of $5,000 to $7,000; a Queen Anne maple highboy, made around 1780, with cabriole legs and pad feet, which has a presale estimate of $5,500 to $6,500; and a rare Pennsylvania Chippendale cherry tall-case clock signed Christian Bixler, 1795, Easton, that stands 90 inches high and has a presale estimate of $12,000 to $14,000. (To see the online catalog, go to www.wiederseim.com.)
Also in that session is the early Philadelphia porcelain piece, a rare Tucker pitcher with gild decoration and monogrammed initials that dates to about 1830 and is expected to sell for $2,000 to $3,000. Tucker Hemphill was the first American attempt at making porcelain in this country, Ted Wiederseim explained this week.
Several pieces of fine art will be sold in that session, too, notably a society portrait of a young man in riding attire titled Boy in a Riding Suit. The 60-by-20-inch oil on canvas, which has a presale estimate of $1,500 to $2,000, was done in 1903 by Ellen Wetherald Ahrens, a student of Thomas Eakins and Howard Pyle. The session also features a rare miniature oil painting of a river scene by Walter E. Baum ($2,500 to $3,000).
Perhaps the most unusual item in the session is a Louis Vuitton jewelry box in the form of a miniature steamer trunk. Officially, it has a presale estimate of $2,000 to $2,500, but Wiederseim says it could sell for twice that price.
The holiday decor includes Christmas items, notably a half dozen or more examples of Belsnickle, the German Santa Claus figure traditionally in charge of gifts for those who have been naughty. They will be offered at the first session, beginning at 5 p.m. next Friday.
Also in that session is an early-19th-century Montgomery County sampler done by Mary Anne Ives and inscribed: "Made in Potts Town School, August 19 1821." It has a presale estimate of $600 to $900.
Previews: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m. to sale time next Friday, and 7 a.m. to sale time Feb. 27 at the firehouse, 1325 Route 100, just north of its intersection with Route 401. For further information, call 610-827-1910.
Contact David Iams at daiams@comcast.net.
