In a Frenzy for Floral Furniture and Dog Art, Buyers Smash Expectations at Sotheby’s $7.6 Million ‘Prince of Chintz’ Sale

It’s already been dubbed the “Super Mario” sale: The trove
of objects belonging to the late designer Mario Buatta exceeded all
expectations when it hit the block at Sotheby’s on January 23 and
24. Buyers went wild for the for giltwood, Chinese lacquer
furniture, lettuce-style pottery, canine imagery, and other
decorative objects that reflected the maximalist style of Buatta,
also known as the “Prince of Chintz.”

The two-day sale realized $7.6 million, or two and a half times
the expected high. Of 922 lots offered, 99 percent found buyers,
and 86 percent of lots exceeded expectations. Sotheby’s counted
1,200 active bidders and said half of the lots sold to online
buyers.

Buatta’s flamboyant style seems to have struck a chord with
collectors tired of the recent dominance of neutral, Minimalist
design. “Clearly there’s a lot of people fed up with
monochromatic interiors, with all this emphasis on hotel-like
environments, and newly excited by Mario’s maximalist style,”
Dennis Harrington, head of Sotheby’s English and European furniture
department in New York, told the New York TImes. “These
results prove that Mario Buatta’s love of antique furniture, rich
colors, and patterns and beautiful objects is still relevant to
21st-century collectors and designers—a legacy of which he would be
immensely proud.”

“The sale is evidence of a rejection of the current design and
art media viewpoint,” said Nicholas Nicholson, a decorative arts
advisor in Brooklyn. “We have been told for years that all
collectors, both old and young, ‘hate’ antiques.  This is
clearly not the case.”

The top lot of the sale was a painting of Paris, Deux
Maisons by the Russian emigre artist Yury Annenkov, which
sold for $212,500, or triple the high $60,000 estimate. There was
also heated competition for a 174 -piece Italian silver and
bamboo flatware service from Buccellati, Milan, dated from the late
20th century, which sold for $93,750 (over an estimate of $5,000 to
$7,000).

A Chinese export black and gold lacquer cabinet, circa 1730,
sold for $162,500 (estimated at $50,000 to $80,000), while a pair
of Anglo-Indian low tables sold for $27,500 (at a high estimate of
just $800).

A 1902 dog painting by Frances C. Fairman, The Boxer
Rebellion, sold for $50,000 (against a high estimate of
$15,000), while a Dodie Thayer “pottery lettuce ware” service sold
for $60,000 (estimated at $10,000 to $15,000). (That was the most
visited item online from the collection, with roughly 5,000
pageviews on sothebys.com.)

“No celebration of Buatta’s life would be complete without
examples of the designer’s trademark floral print,” read a
post-sale release from Sotheby’s. Indeed, a pair of matching floral
chintz fabric chairs, sold for $11,250 (estimated at $1,200 to
$1,800).

Reality television star Patricia Altschul, of Bravo’s
Southern Charm, was a longtime client of Buatta’s,
according to the Times. “Pat is
so offended by my grisaille aesthetic and my beige
wardrobe,” one of her friends, Luzanne Otte, who lives in Los
Angeles and bid throughout the sale, told the
Times. “She’s been trying to punctuate my life with
color. I’m in a transition period, trying to find my grown up
look.”

The post In a Frenzy for Floral Furniture and Dog Art,
Buyers Smash Expectations at Sotheby’s $7.6 Million ‘Prince of
Chintz’ Sale appeared first on artnet News.