Exceptional George III bachelor’s chest in nicely figured mahogany with good color and patina, having a rectangular, cross banded top above an oak brushing slide and four graduated drawers flanked by canted, reeded corners and raised on straight bracket feet. English, circa 1780 (brasses replaced).

Length: 33.75”
Depth: 19.75”
Height: 32.5”

**Please note: This item is not currently on view in our gallery. If you would like to see it, please call at least 48 hours in advance.

Rare set of English Regency bedsteps in mahogany with caned sides and back, having a turned gallery above three tooled leather treads, the first with tambour doors below, the second now with drawer below. Circa 1800-1815.

Height: 27” (top of top step)
Depth: 31.75”
Width: 20”

Antique English Regency style child's high chair in mahogany with caned seat and back, with a replaced adjustable footrest, turned cross stretcher and detachable turned leg stand. The stand can then serve as a small table when used with the chair.Late 19th century.

Height: 36”
Width: 17”
Depth: 14.5”

Augustus John: Fifty-Two Drawings

Signed, limited edition, with an introduction by Lord David Cecil. Published by George Rainbird, London (1957). Hardcover folio, 16.5 x 11.75 inches. Limited to 150 copies of which this is Number 107 with slipcase. Signed by Augustus John and Lord David Cecil and inscribed to the art collector Emily Chadbourne and signed a second time by Augustus John. The book was designed and produced by George Rainbird and Ruari McLean.The lithograph self-portrait was drawn by the artist in July, 1955 and directly printed from the plate at the Curwen Press which also printed the text. The plates were printed in photo-litho offset by Van Leer of Amsterdam. The text is printed on Abbey Mills Suede Text Antique laid. Bound by Zaehnsdorf of London in half vellum over brown paper with gilt title on spine. Lithographic plate to the top board. Very good condition; a handsome copy of an important work.

Eavesdropping

Oil on panel, signed and dated: “1865.”

Painting size: 9” x 6.75”
Frame size: 14.5” x 12.5”

Petrus Theodorus Van Wyngaerdt (also spelled Wyngaerdt or Wijngaerdt) was born in Rotterdam. A student of J.H. Van de Laar, he painted genre scenes and portraits, as did his older brother, painter Anthonie Jacobus Van Wyngaerdt.

In "Eavesdropping", Van Wyngaerdt depicts a well-known theme from popular 19th-century French and Dutch prints-- a Roccoco figure listening at a door while a private conversation (or event) is underway. The women’s yellow skirt, pink bodice and lacy cap suggest that she is a lady (of sorts) and her plump arms, pretty features and sly expression suggest what may be going on behind closed doors.

Van Wyngaerdt’s work can be found in the collections of the Haarlem Museum. He is listed in Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs (Bénézit, 1999).

Rare antique British folding campaign desk in mahogany having hinged leather lined writing surface that folds for transport. Circa 1860-70.

Height: 29”
Length (open): 24”
Width: 24”

See British Campaign Furniture, Elegance Under Canvas,1740-1914 by Nicholas Brawer for similar examples.

Fine pair of Antique French Louis XVI style ormolu candlesticks with circular bases with laurel leaf decoration and tapered, fluted shafts with applied laurel swags. Late 19th-century, now wired as lamps.

Provenance: from the collection of Ron Van Swerengen

Height to Shade: 25.5”

James Francis O’Brien (American, 1917-1996)

Bethesda

Oil on canvas, signed lower left and titled on the reverse.

Painting size: 20” x 24” Frame size: 25.5” x 29”

** Please Note - This painting came directly from the Estate of Mr. O’Brien. For other examples, type “O’Brien” into the search box.

** For other paintings by artists from Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC or North Carolina, click on the “Regional Artists” button on our Homepage.

Born in Newtonville, Massachusetts, O’Brien exhibited a love of drawing and painting from a very early age. As a high school student, he took all possible elective courses in art and technical drawing. He supplemented this study with evening courses at M.I.T. Following his move to Washington, DC as a young man, he enrolled in the Washington Workshop of the Arts. WWA, like the Art Students League in New York City, was a school in which all the classes were taught by a rotating roster of professional artists.

During WW II, his technical artistic training served his country well when he was put to work as a map maker. In the final year of the war, O’Brien married. On his honeymoon in New York City, he found time to paint the rooftop view from his hotel room window. This initiated a lifelong pursuit of city painting (his family was inclined to call it an obsession).

Starting with the founding of Federal Graphics, a commercial art firm he launched with a partner in 1947, he pursued a commercial career for the majority of his life. However, he always considered painting his “real” work, and his dedication to this vocation was apparent in a myriad of ways. He helped to found the Montgomery County Art Association and held memberships in the Arts Council of Montgomery County and American Art League.

Throughout his life, he exhibited widely, both as an individual and in group shows. The Arts Club of Washington, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Montgomery College, and the Rehoboth Art League were a few among the many venues at which his works were shown. In addition, he exhibited in several private galleries.

During the course of his painting, O’Brien noticed that the paints on his palette sometimes mixed into designs as interesting as those more deliberately created. From this observation arose the text, Design By Accident, first published in 1968. The book became widely used by art teachers following very favorably reviews by newspapers and magazines. It was even reviewed by Scientific American from a technological-aesthetic.

A draftsman, illustrator, writer and most importantly painter, O’Brien was fortunate to have his work recognised and appreciated during his life. He won awards from The Montgomery County Art Association, Rehoboth Art League and American Art League. Even art critics praised his work with the most succinct calling his paintings, “familiar scenes, fresher and lighter than life”. (Florence Berryman of The Washington Star)

O’Brien believed that the “creative urge” was something all children have. However, as adults, that impulse falls victim to ever growing demands and responsibilities. He maintained that artists are able to keep alive the childlike ability to see beauty and mystery in commonplace things.

Thanks to his sense of wonder, he left us deeply in his debt. His paintings remind us that every day that Washington, DC is full of inspiring sights that fall outside of the traditional “glamour” views depicted by most artists.

Antique bronze Paperweight in the form of a of a crushed fedora hat, Continental, late 19th century.

Length: 6.125”
Height: 2.25”

English School (ca. 1850-1870)

Two Antique English miniature watercolors with printed borders.

Frame size: 7.5" x 8.5"

Auguste Marie Barreau (French, d.1922)

Young Woman in Grecian Dress

A gilt and patinated bronze statue, signed on the base and inscribed “Médaille d’Or à l’Exposition des Beaux Arts 1865” and “Acheté par l’État”.

Height: 24.5”

Born in France, Auguste Marie Barreau, was a sculptor active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français and the Exposition des Beaux Arts of 1865 where he won a gold medal for this Classical figure. Barreau died in 1922.

Source:

Benezit. Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. (1999).

John Burr (Scots/English, 1831-1893)

Caught Napping

Oil on canvas, signed and dated: “1867”

Painting size: 15.5” x 26.5”
Frame size: 22.5” x 33”

A student of Scots artist, Scott Lauder, John Burr studied at the Trustee’s Academy in Edinburgh. He moved to London in 1861 with his brother and fellow painter, Alexander Burr. Upon his arrival Burr began exhibiting at the Royal Academy. He continued to exhibit there until 1882. In addition, he exhibited at Suffolk Street and the Old Watercolour Society. Burr is known for his genre paintings involving small children and domestic scenes.

Source:

Wood, Christopher. Dictionary of British Art: Victorian Painters. (1995).

Harris, Paul and Julian Halsby. The Dictionary of Scottish Painters. (1990).

Fine Late Regency Papier-Mâché Tray having a shaped gallery with gilt stencil decoration and inlaid with mother of pearl. English, circa 1835, mounted on a later bamboo form ebonized stand.

Height: 23.25 ” Length: 29.5” Width: 21.5”

Exceptional English Domed Top Tea caddy in harewood with satinwood stringing and brass carrying handles and interior fitted with compartments for teas and sugar bowl. Circa 1800.

Height: 6.75"
Length: 12"
Width: 5. 75"

English mahogany tea chest of simple rectangular form. The beauty of this chest lies in its interior with its two silver plate tea canisters and matching silver plate sugar canister. Circa 1825.

Height: 6.25”
Length: 9.75”
Depth: 6.75”

Fine Antique English Canterbury in Walnut, having four pierced partitions with “C” scroll carved decoration above a single drawer and raised on turned ball form feet with brass casters. Circa 1850-1870

Originally designed for sheet music, these are now used primarily as magazine racks. To see other examples, type "canterbury" into the search box.

Height: 20”
Width: 20.5”
Depth: 14.5”

American School, Early 19th Century

Carib Indians Around a Jungle Campfire, with a Piton in the Background

Oil on canvas, signed indistinctly on the stretcher. Mid 19th century carved wood, compo and gilt frame

Painting Size: 9.25” x 12”
Frame Size: 13.5” x 16.5”

Sketch of a Skye Terrier

by Edward F.D. Pritchard (British 1809-1905)

Ink on paper, signed. Paper Size: 3.5" x 5.5" (Unframed)

Pritchard was a marine, landscape and architectural painter living in Bristol and London, who exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, the Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street and elsewhere. He is listed in The Dictionary of Victorian Painters by Christopher Wood, and Benezit, E., Dictonnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs.

This is from a sketchbook circa 1880.