The sun., 1903-02-02
SH0WNBY THEMARQUANDSALE
SOME or THE LESSONS FOR ART
LOVERS 1T BROUGHT OUT.
Nb,t Seemed High Prices fer Some Objects
Not Really SO High When Judged by
Other standards-No Sign OF waning
seen In the Desire for Peachblows.

Not heauy so 1u8n Wne0 judged Oy
Other standards-No Sign OF waning
seen In the Desire for Peachblows.
The crowding OF the American Art Gal
l.ries at the sessions Of the Marquand sale,
which was concluded after o'clock on
Saturday evening, was reflection Of the
widespread interest that is felt in the OBJ
iects forming such an art collection as Mr..
Marauand's. an interest which was even
more eloquently shown In the daily assem-
hlages Of visitors in the galleries while tho
collection was on exhibition.
A part of the interest was spectacular,
A part OF 1t commercial, and larger part
the interest Of the students and lovers Of
Ar objects, many OF whom are unable to
buy the things they like to look at and to
see others buy. The prices were, at least
In part, an indication OF the rapid widening
OF the circle Of those who wish to possess
these objects. whether for their artistic
value or merely for their beauty.
Comment has been varied and interesting
on the high prices paid continuously for
eight days at this public competition. Said
persons who can see sentiment In dollars,
The prices we're a trib ute to Mr.. Marquand
for his endeavor to bring works OF art TO
New York. Men resolved that his taste,
and his generosity while living to the Metro
potan Museum, should be recognized and
honored. that it should be shown at this sale
Of his art effects that New York is ethically
artistic, and as appreciative as Paris is re-
puted TO be-
unrestrained by judgment has been placed
1ass
OF large fortunes quickly acquired
In a conversation representing dealers,
amateurs and authorities, it was said Of the
sale OF the Chinese porcelains, for instance,
that people seem to have concluded. or to
fear. that with the constantly widening
demand for these objects there would
soon be greater difficulty than now to pro-
cure even specimens not Of the rare qualities
which the greatest collections represent.
But In the general discussion Of high
figures. the fact that some Of the highest
we're not really high prices for the objects
for which they were paid was in some in
stances overlooked. This is true Of the
sale Of the altar screen Of Limoges enamels.
which Jacques Seligmann, the Paris art
dealer, purchased for $4,000, when the
management Of the Metropolitan Museum
IL.
When suggestions we're made to Mr..
Seignann that he had made . high pur-
chase. Not at all, said he. the retable is
worth the price commercially alone. 1t
u not q high price. The enamel is worth
the ngure in the Paris market
In the report circulated before the sale
it was stated that this retable cost Mr..
Marquand $1,000. A little searching of the
records shows the report TO be false and
reveals the sound basis for Mr. Seligmsnns
valuation. aside from his connoisseurship
The screen was sold from the Beurdeley
collection in Paris in lss3 for $1,000 francs.
or $l7,4OO, to which must be added the
Governments commission charge, and
was sold by Oudinot to Mr.. Marquand for
$1,000 q comparatively slight advance on
prices OF to-day It may be SEEN therefore,
that at $4,000 the retable was far from
b,ing overvalued, and New York's museum
will have to 60 higher, in all likelihood,
when It determines TO try again for such
piece. ~
the collection was not unusual, but 1t was
a pretty clear demonstration that peop!e
will pay what they choose for what they
want, without regard to what their dealer
the value OF any objects. There has
been time enough since the -peachblow
craze swept the Western countries in the
eighties for the prophets to make good
their predictions that the Generalization"
of these porcelains would Yield to time and
growing knowle ige; but people value
retchhlows, and when they get chance at
them they paw for them.
Mr.. Hippesley, who assembled the Hip
pesiev collection. in the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition, has written that a peachblow vase.
which was sold in New York for SIS 900. was
previously offered to him in China for $500.
Although Mrs. Morgan paid $4,000 for the
peachbow that set the country aCog, II sold
NJ the Morgan sale for SIS. COO and collectors
have been paying high prices for porcelains
with this glaze ever since. When the de-
nand for them will slacken enough to make
the prices low is about as profitable a sub
lect Tor conjecture as what would have been
the record price In peachblows IL the 5000
vase had gone TO the Washington collection.
The care and Judgment used In display
ing the objects sold at the American gal
l"ries was subject Of constant surprise and
tenark among the European dealers who
attended the auct ion. The rugs and other
'ahrics sold on Saturday appeared under a
more elaborate scheme than had the articles
disposed Of at previous sessions, the back |
tally arranged for these articles. The |
'aryer ones were let down from high scaf- |
folding. which, with the substructure |
against which they were shown. was
s"rNened in upholstery Of appropriate |
"0iors
Both in the manner of displaying the
"blec;s and in the methods Of bidders there |
was Interest for the watchfu and curious |
who had time and eyes for other things |
man the art objects themselves,
ohe learned man from ~ lem, the witch |
Town Of Massachusetts, never looked at |
ne auc'ioneer, but with eyes fastened on |
he object under the hammer al one time,
or at another chatting care .sely in whispers
with his neighbor, he mer,l he d one thumb
erect opposite the third button 81 his waist
coat. ~ long as he wished to bid.
The auctioneer woi l look nj the thumb |
and Increase any bid that had been made
IN other quarters Of the gallery by like
amount 80 long a. the thumb was erect
when the thumb fell. Salem was out Of the
bidding
oher bidders who 30 not like to let their
helghbors know that they are in any compe-
'nion. either by calling a bid Themselves
or by nodding their heads, hold a pencil
IN their teeth, or keep one eye shut, and the
fapid.fre bidding gees on. Alert watchers
who have wondered why man should
fihble at a pencil or squint during long
competition sometimes see. when the auc-
'hneers hammer falls. a mark OF possession
set at that catalogue number In the cata-
ogue Of a man who had seemed TO have no
interest, unit he made that mark, in the
bject that vas up.
4 NEW ART (tTlLOGl'E.