Sales statistics were comparable with a 68 per cent take-up by lot and a £221,030 total. Demand for cameo glass remained steady but there was a tranche of unsold textile and wallpaper design books and Viennese metalwork entries despite conservative estimates.
On the part of vendors, UK and French trade and private consignors still provided CSK with their mainstay. The strength of the sale may have been the cameo glass but one of the most sought-after entries was a decorative, skilfully worked
125-piece white-metal cutlery service, c.1896, together with its original carved mahogany chest.
A private French consignment, it was designed by the little known Parisian workshop Caron. Some of the larger pieces were parcel-gilt and the shell bowl serving spoon boasted finely engraved fretwork. A Swiss dealer outbid rival UK trade interest and secured the set at £8500.
The biggest money was reserved for a UK trade entry: a pair of Orivit silvered metal candlesticks and matching jardinière. Although this German set had been re-silvered, a US private collector matched the punchy £12,000 low estimate for ownership.
American, London and Japanese trade dominated bidding for the 54-lot cameo and enamel glass section and there were only a handful of casualties. However, the most expensive glass entry was secured by a Swiss dealer who bid £6500 for a particularly large polychrome enamelled Gallé vase, 2ft 5in (74cm) high.
The sage green and beige vase was decorated with flower-heads and leaves, and had the enamel mark Cristallerie de Gallé Nancy, Modele et decor décomposée.
An early piece of Gallé glass furnished the sale with its only sleeper: a cameo and enamelled textured frosted glass vase, etched, carved and polychrome-enamelled with pendant flowers, cameo mark Gallé, c.1885-90. Its early date ensured it was pursued by the UK trade to a multiple-estimate £1600 while a Daum cameo glass plafonnier with a striking blue, yellow and amethyst colour combination elicited a healthy £6500 bid from a Japanese dealer.
Glass peaks and design book troughs
There were peaks and troughs in Christie’s South Kensington’s (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) annual 166-lot Art Nouveau sale, February 12, but little appears to have changed since their last auction foray into this field, in April 2001.
