Rafael Osona's
 Auction News


 
Get up, Get Dressed!
and come with us...
on a Maritime Adventure 
China ~ England ~ Nantucket
 

 
Unsigned...Unclothed
Oil on Canvas
23 1/2 in. x 27 in.
To be offered August 4th






DON'T MISS THE BOAT!
 

We are Seeking
Fine Maritime Artifacts

to be offered
August 4th, 2012 
during our annual
Americana, Fine Art & Marine Auction
Fine Marine Art, 19th C. Sailor Made Scrimshaw - including ditty boxes, canes & walking sticks, busks, pie crimpers, yarn swifts, etc. - Sailor's Valentines, Woolies, Ship Models, Campaign Furniture, Ships Clocks...


  

Preview these fine examples to be offered August 4th:
Fine China Trade Oil on Canvas 
Early View of  "Whampoa"  unsigned 
9 1/2 in. x 22 in.

Having boarded a Chinese pilot in Macau, inbound foreign trading vessels anchored at Whampoa, where each ship waited to be inspected and taxed, before being permitted to transfer her cargo the 12 miles up-river to the hongs (warehouses) of Canton. Much like the itinerant painters of Early America, who painted each sitter's portrait on previously completed backgrounds, Chinese artists exacted panoramic scenes, often approaching visiting ships with a choice of canvases, ready to be customized with a strategically placed portrait ...of the newly arrived ship AND her flag!

In this fine example, to be offered August 4th, an unknown artisan, having applied his skills to western-style painting techniques, chose a distant vantage point and employed water-dense atmospherics to romanticize his scene. All is calm, just before day's end, at sunset.  The Pazhou pagoda - a well known landmark and fix point for early foreign navigators - which viewed from a lower vantage point would have been dwarfed by the ships in the harbor, lends a taste of the exotic. As is typical of  these 19th century China Trade works, cracqueleur, (tiny fissures) apparent in the painting's surface, are a signature of authenticity; primarily due to the pigments used.


(detail) Early View of "Whampoa"
Note the American ships among those in the harbor!


 



C.H. Wood
Finely Engraved Nautilus Shell
Examples in museum collections:  

National Maritime Museum, London, UK
South Street Seaport Museum, New York, New York
SS Great Britain Museum, Bristol, UK
 
"The Great Britain Iron Steam Ship Was Launched at Bristol on the 19th July 1843 and Christened by His Royal Highness Prince Albert"
"Engraved with a penknife by C.H. Wood"
6 in. x 6 1/2 in.

 From the Encyclopedia of Folk Art: "The best known engraver of sea shells was C.H. Wood (active 1840-1865) whose finest works are nautilus shells portraying the British steamships Great Britain and Great Western, with lengthy inscriptions, produced in multiple copies in various sizes, each claiming to be an exact replica of one he presented to Queen Victoria in 1845, though there is no evidence that the Royal Family ever received one.   The workmanship is so compelling that he may have influenced a generation of anonymous American amateurs.  Wood sold his wares in New York. The author James Dugan reports in The Great Iron Ship (1953) that on the occasion of the Great Eastern's maiden voyage to New York in 1860, with the ship opened to the public at quayside, an artist named Wood manned a booth where he sold sea shells engraved with the boat's picture." 

 

What would you like to consign or sell
from YOUR MARITIME COLLECTION
to be included in THIS summer's auctions?

~

More Exceptional Offerings:
August 4th  
Americana, Fine Art & Marine Auction   

From a Nantucket Estate Collection:
Mid 19th Century Sailor Made Pie Crimpers

"Throughout the Pacifc, and also in Nantucket, and New Bedford, and Sag Harbor, you will come across lively sketches of whales and whaling-scenes, graven by the fishermen themselves on Sperm Whale-teeth, or ladies' busks wrought out of the Right Whale-bone,
and other like skrimshander articles, as the whalemen call the numerous little ingenious contrivances they elaborately carve out of the rough material, in their hours of ocean leisure. Some of them have little boxes of dentistical-looking implements, specially intended for the
skrimshandering business. But, in general, they toil with their jack-knives alone; and, with that almost omnipotent tool of the sailor, they will turn you out anything you please, in the way of a mariner's fancy."  Herman Melville, Moby Dick (1851)












~ 
Rafael Osona

(est. 1980)

Nantucket's Premier Source

 

Antiques

Folk Art

Maritime Arts 

 19th C. Scrimshaw
 Mid-Century Furnishings
 

19th, 20th & 21st Century Nantucket Art 

Evaluations ~ Sales

  

    

 

Seeking Fine Consignments

Single Items ~ Collections ~ Fine Estates

 ______________________________________


Three Ways to Consign:

 

Website

Just fill out a short form.

We do the rest!

 

E-mail

[email protected]  

 

Phone

You do the talking!

(508) 228-3942

Schedule an Appointment 

 

 

We actively seek fine quality Antiques, Fine Art, Nantucket Baskets, Nantucket Art, Estate Jewelry, Oriental Carpets, Sterling, Maritime Artifacts including 19th Century Scrimshaw, Folk Art, Decorative Arts,  etc.  Our extensive experience and knowledge help you evaluate just how much your family heirloom or treasured collection is worth, and  your options as a seller.  We offer a full range of services including but not limited to:  The "Broom Sweep"  for executors and individuals who need the entire personal property of an Estate or Real Estate liquidated.  Let us assist you in the decision making process, to maximize the return on your consignment.  

 


2012 AUCTION CALENDAR
May 26
June 23
June 30
July 7, 14, 21
August 4
August 11, 18, 25
Sept. 1, 15
October 6
November 24
December 1

________________________________________________________________  

American Legion Hall        21 Washington Street         Nantucket Island

 2012
BENEFIT AUCTIONS

 
JUNE 10 ~ Hospice
Palliative & Supportive Care of Nantucket

Galley Beach

JULY 12 ~ Nantucket Historical Association
Fund Raising Auction & Luncheon
Great Harbor Yacht Club

JULY 14  ~ Artists Association
of Nantucket
Benefit Dinner & Auction
Great Harbor Yacht Club
 

JULY 22 ~ Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum
"Baskets and Bubbly Benefit Auction"
Great Harbor Yacht Club

AUGUST 18 ~ Tim Russert Summer Groove
Nantucket Boys & Girls Club

OCTOBER 7 ~ Artists Association of Nantucket
Wet Paint Sale
American Legion Hall, 21 Washington St.
 

 

Seize the opportunity!

Consign your Maritime Art

 

 

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Rafael Osona Auctions  

 PO Box 2607

Nantucket, MA 02584

508-228-3942

fax 508-228-8778  

[email protected]

 

www.RafaelOsonaAuctions.com

 

 

AUCTION NEWS 

is a publication of 
Rafael Osona Auctions 
copyright, 2009 
2012 edition 
all rights reserved 
Concept & Layout by Carolyn Walsh