“What antiques restorer Maryalice Huggins knew when she stumbled across the mirror at a country auction in Rhode Island was this: She was besotted. Rococo and huge (more than eight feet tall), the mirror was one of the most unusual objects she had ever seen. Huggins had to have it.

The frame’s elaborate carvings were almost identical to a famous eighteenth-century design. Could this be eighteenth-century American? That would make it rare indeed. But in the rarefied world of American antiques, an object is not significant unless you can prove where it’s from. Huggins set out to trace the origins of her magnificent mirror.

Fueled with the delightfully obsessive spirit of Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief, Aesop’s Mirror follows Huggins on her quest as she goes up against the leading lights of the very male world of high-end antiques and dives into the historical archives. And oh, what she finds there! The mirror was likely passed down through generations of the illustrious Brown family of Providence, Rhode Island.” –From Amazon.com

Maryalice Huggins worked for Israel Sacks, Inc, as well as a few large auction houses, and was well-versed in the high-end world of antiques—that is, until her detective work takes her down hidden passages that lead to encounters with such luminaries as Leigh and Leslie Keno, who don’t come off too well, as well as various experts from Christies and Sothebys. Huggins has a frank and pragmatic approach to the often conflicting advice and information she is given by the so-called scholars and experts, and takes a keen-eyed “question everything” approach which results in several fresh nuggets of academic research.

The history of the American family that apparently owned the piece in the 19th century is a mesmerizing story in its own right, and readers who’ve researched the artists, sitters, and owners of their own antiques will identify with her journey into the past.

A late 18th century memorial ring coming up at auction at Bonhams purportedly contains a lock of Mary Tudor’s hair. Mary Tudor was the younger sister of Henry VIII, and grandmother to Lady Jane Grey. The auction catalogue copy reads as follows:

“The navette-shaped plaque with glazed locket compartment encasing a ‘wheat-sheaf’ of hair, the underside engraved ‘Mary Tudor Queen of France Died 1533′, on a tapered hoop with engraved shoulders, ring size L, fitted case with interior hand-painted inscription: ‘This ring was given by me to the Lady Katherine Manners, eld’t dau’t to John, 7th Duke of Rutland, on Xmas Day 1897. It contains a lock of the hair of her ancestress the Lady Mary Tudor, dau’t of King Henry VII, who mar’d 1stly Louis XII, King of France and 2dly Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Her descen’t by the latter marriage the Lady Frances Brandon, dau’t of Charles Brandon, 6th Duke of Suffolk became the wife of John Manners, Marquess of Granby, eld’t son of John 3rd Duke of Rutland. Mary Tudor died on 25 June 1533 and was bur’d 22nd July at the monastery of St Edmondsbury. On the dissolution of that house, her coffin was removed to the Parish Church. On 6th Sept 1784 her tomb and its leaden coffin were opened. Her hair, nearly 2 feet long, was found in perfect condition, & this lock was then cut off. The inscription inside the ring is a copy of that on the coffin. Another lock, enclos’d in a locket was exhib’d at the Tudor Exhibition, New Gallery, London, 1890. See Cat, 186′, the inscription signed ‘Frances Pierrepont Barnard, St Mary’s Abbey, Windermere.’

Provenance:
Francis Pierrepont Barnard (1854-1931)
Lady Katherine Manners (1866-1900)
Lady Elizabeth Montagu Douglas Scott (née Manners) (1878-1924)
Direct descent to the current owner

Francis Pierrepont Barnard, the author of the inscription, was an archaeologist, historian and numismatist and how the ring came to be in his possession is not known. However, the current owner of the ring confirms it was passed down from his grandmother, Lady Elizabeth Montagu Douglas Scott, youngest daughter of the 7th Duke of Rutland who had inherited it from her unmarried sister, Lady Katherine Manners.

Barnard cites the Tudor Exhibition of 1890, held at the New Gallery, London where another lock of Mary Tudor’s hair was displayed. This lock, number 899 in the catalogue, is listed under “relics” and the catalogue entry describes how in September 1784 Mary Tudor’s tomb, in the Church of Bury St Edmond’s, was opened and “an act of sacrilegious spoliation was committed”. The lead coffin, inscribed “Mary Quene of Ffraunc, 1533” was opened and portions of Mary’s hair, purported to be two feet in length and in perfect condition, were ghoulishly cut off by those present at the disinterment, thus entering various 18th century collections, including that of Charles Blomfield, Alderman of Bury. A lock of hair was also presented to the Dowager Duchess of Portland from whom it passed to the Marquess of Chandos and then sold with the Duke of Buckingham’s effects in 1848 to a Mr Owen of New Bond Street.

See Catalogue of the Exhibition of the Royal House of Tudor, The New Gallery, London, 1890, number 899 and Samuel Tymms, An Architectural and Historical Account of the Church of St Mary, Bury St Edmund’s, London, 1854, for further information about the opening of Mary Tudor’s coffin.”

Sale 16841 – Fine Jewellery, 23 Sep 2009
Bonhams New Bond Street

I don’t often comment on miniatures that sell at auction, but this week there has been some unusual movement  in  a few U.S. auctions, when one considers the economic recession, and the presently quiet marketplace. 

Grogan and Company, Dedham MA, April 19th, 2009 auction, two American miniatures:

1. Lot 7, a signed Nathaniel Rogers of a bald gentleman,  with provenance. Estimate $500-700. sold for $2000.  This is a decent trade price for a signed Rogers. However, look at the next lot.

2. Lot 8, Richard Morrell Staigg of James Ingersoll. Unattractive frame, warped ivory. Estimate $700-1000. Sold for $5600. An extremely healthy trade price.

Joseph Kabe Estate Auctions, Milford, CT, April 19th, 2009, one English miniature:

 1.  No lot number assigned, a signed Horace Hone boy, no estimate.  This is an excellent example of Hone’s work, and is an appealing sitter, but the miniature is in a shabby 19th century frame.  Sold for $5100, excluding buyer’s premium.   An extremely healthy trade price.

Doyle New York, New York City, NY, April 21st, 2009, one American miniature: 

1. Lot 55, inscribed by Henry Shumway, of James K. Place, exhibited at the Museum of New York, c. 1840. Estimate: $1500-2000. Sold for $4688, including buyer’s premium.  With a named sitter and an exhibition record, this is still a very healthy trade price.

Lot 7, Signed Nathaniel Rogers, sold for $2000.

Richard Morrell Staigg of James Ingersoll. Sold $5600.

 

A signed Horace Hone of a boy in later frame. Sold for $5100.

  

Henry Colton Shumway of James K. Place. Sold for $4688.