Crescent City's May 10-11 Auction Will Feature Property From The Dufour-plassan House In New Orleans

By Author: Adam Lambert
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An Important Estates Auction featuring property from the Dufour-Plassan House in New Orleans, paintings descended in the family of Mayor Paul Capdevielle (1842-1922) and more is planned for Friday and Saturday, May 10th and 11th, by Crescent City Auction Gallery, online and live in the gallery at 1330 St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans.

The Dufour-Plassan House is one of New Orleans’ landmark buildings. The residence was built in 1870 facing Esplanade Avenue, for the attorney Cyprien Dufour, who had served as a State Senator and District Attorney. In 1908 the structure was moved to its present location, in the same Square facing North White Street. It was subsequently purchased by Adolph Plassan.

Start times both days will be 10 am Central. Internet bidding will be provided by the Crescent City website (CrescentCityAuctionGallery.com), LiveAuctioneers.com and Invaluable.com. An in-person preview will be held beginning Wednesday, May 1st, excluding weekends, from 10 am to 5 pm Central time. More than 800 quality lots will come up for bid across the two sale days.

The auction will present fine items in categories ...
... people have come to expect from Crescent City Auction Gallery over the years: American, French and English furniture; original art (much of it by renowned local and regional artists); sterling silver; bric-a-brac and estate jewelry (to include diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, tanzanite, South Seas pearls and a gorgeous men’s Rolex watch).

An oil and mixed media on shaped board by Carmelo Arden Quin (Uruguayan/Paris, 1913-2010) titled Couronnes IV (1948) has an estimate of $8,000-$12,000. The work is titled and dated en verso and presented in a white board frame measuring 18 ¼ inches by 22 ½ inches. It was acquired in 1994 from the Galerie Alexandre de la Salle and is in the artist’s catalogue raisonné.

Carmelo Arden Quinn was a pivotal figure in 20th century Latin American art. He co-founded the Madi movement in Argentina in the 1940s that is now an international genre. Quinn’s Couronnes (Crown) series, ten paintings, exemplifies early international Madi. The painting in the upcoming auction as well as Number XI are the only two works in the series auctioned in the past 40 years.

Lots 652 thru 655 comprise a nice selection of Newcomb vases, while lots 532, 536, 537, 538 and 539 showcase a fine collection of clocks, including swing arm clocks after Auguste Moreau and Julien Causse. There is an impressive selection of patinated bronze figures and jardinieres, including lot 685, a pair of large 20th c. patinated and gilt bronze jardinieres (est. $2,500-$4,500).

Bronzes will be led by lots 541 and 542: two Western patinated bronze sculptures by Jasper D’Ambrosi (Calif., 1926-1986), each with an estimate of $1,500-$2,500. A garnet flame blown glass basket executed in 2018 by Dale Chihuly (b. 1941) is expected to fetch $5,000-$10,000. And a Huey Long for President iron campaign button from 1936 should realize $1,000-$2,000.

An oil on canvas portrait painting by the French/New Orleans artist John Genin (1830-1895), depicting Paul Henri Augustin Capdevielle (1880-1950) and Pierre Emmanuel ‘Auguste’ Capdevielle (1882-1940), the children of Paul Capdeville, who served as the Mayor of New Orleans from 1886-1887, is expected to attract much bidder attention (est. $4,000-$8,000).

Paintings by local and regional artists will feature an oil on canvas board by Clementine Hunter (La., 1887-1987), titled Wash Day (est. $4,000-$8,000); an oil wash on cardboard by Alexander John Drysdale (La., 1870-1934), titled Landscape with Live Oak Tree (est. $1,200-$1,800); a circa 1957 egg emulsion, tempera and ink on Masonite by George Dunbar (La., b. 1927), titled Abstract Figures (est. $1,500-$2,500); and a pair of oil on linen laid down on Masonite portraits of Edgar De Vesine Larue (1806/7-1884) and Augustine ‘Elina’ Pollock Larue (1825-1857), circa 1855, attributed to Francois Bernard (French/New Orleans, 1812-1875) (est. $2,000-$4,000).

An oil on board Beach Scene by Niek Van Der Plas (b. 1954) should bring $1,500-$2,500; while an 1890 oil on canvas by Jean-Baptiste Baudin (French 1851-1922), titled Woman Knitting in a Parlor, is expected to hit $1,200-$1,600.

American furniture will be led by a 19th century Queen Anne-style mahogany highboy (est. $1,000-$2,000), a cut-down half-tester bed, a mahogany four-poster bed, a Federal mahogany sofa, some nice Louisiana pieces and other notable furniture items made in the United States.

French furniture will be offered in abundance in this auction. Highlight lots will include an impressive 19th century Henri II-style carved walnut buffet a deux corps (est. $2,000-$4,000); a Louis XVI-style marble-top polychromed walnut sideboard, 20th century (est. $600-$1,200); a 20th century oak refectory table (est. $700-$1,200); and a mid-19th century Empire carved walnut marble-top commode with fossilized dark grey marble over a frieze drawer (est. $600-$1,200).

Also from France, a 20th century Louis XVI-style giltwood overmantel mirror is expected to garner $1,000-$1,500. Silver will feature a 48-piece set of sterling flatware by Reed & Barton in the “Spanish Baroque” pattern (est. $1,200-$1,800); and an assembled set of twelve 20th century sterling goblets, including eleven by Alvin, #S249, and one by Amston, #70 (est. $1,500-$2,500). Also, a 20th century carved giltwood blackamoor torchière is expected to reach $1,000-$2,000.

Bric-a-brac will include Newell post lamps, Murano glass, a pair of silverplate and crystal trumpet vases, lamps, canes, Limoges and more. Other items will include Oriental carpets, chandeliers, iron patio furniture and planters, a cornstalk iron fence post, bronze fountain figures, bronze garden statuary, a marble-top conservatory table, a Behr Brothers mahogany baby grand piano, marble-top bistro tables, a wicker parlor set and much more. See the full catalog online.

Absentee and phone bids will be accepted until 1 pm Central time the day before the auction. A 28 percent buyer’s premium will be applied for online bidders or those paying with a credit card. A 25 percent buyer’s premium will be applied in-house. A printed catalog is available; please call 504-529-5057 or send a request via email to info@crescentcityauctiongallery.com.

For more information regarding Crescent City Auction Gallery and the two-day Important Estates Auction planned for Friday and Saturday, May 10th and 11th, beginning at 10 am Central time both days, please visit www.crescentcityauctiongallery.com. Updates are posted frequently.