Fireplace insert features jesters, gothic arches
Q.This fireplace insert and basket are part of my parents’ home. It has two comical faces on each of the upper corners. It’s very heavy and looks like brass. It’s 76 cm high and about 63 cm wide (30 x 25 inches). The front part with the glass ‘coals’ lights up for show, not to hold wood, and looks like a copper framework. I’m deciding what to sell and if it’s worthwhile this could go. — Sarah, Scarborough
A.Sitting around this fireplace could easily inspire all kinds of conversation. The smiling jester masks are humorous and intriguing, and the accompanying gothic arches, tiny trefoils and quatrefoils and the fancy “church door” hinge strap are equally striking. It’s cast in iron with a brass or bronze finish, and is quite rare. This example has turned up several times in North American mansions, a fact which may give us our only clue as to where it was made. Bradley & Hubbard Manufacturing Company of Meriden, Connecticut, would be my first start. Architectural antiques with practical use are in high demand, and you should be able to realize $650 for this handsome example.
Q.I recently acquired this lovely glass base hookah. The bottom shows a lot of wear which leads me to believe it has some age. The base is overlay glass, cobalt blue cut to clear, and in excellent condition. It is wonderfully decorated with gold details. The inside is cloudy, no doubt from the water that was used to fill it. It is 43 cm tall (17 inches). I am interested in your take on this piece, country of origin and age, in particular. Can you help? — Rick, Stratford
A.The origin of the hookah is a matter of some scholarly debate, but it is most often credited to the Persia, India or Afghanistan of several hundred years ago. The top end is used to burn cannabis or flavoured tobacco, and the user draws on the hose (missing from yours) to force the smoke down through the water in the glass bottom. This filters and cools the fumes before inhalation. The glass body of yours is certainly styled after Bohemian glass, and will likely have been produced after 1918 in what was at the time Czechoslovakia. The overlay and gold work is still being done today on more expensive models, as is the cutting through the cobalt layer. A closer look may help refine the date, but I suspect it was made sometime in the 1920s or ’30s. Regardless, spending a few dollars on a hose will give you an item worth about $175.
Q.I just bought this picture and frame through an online auction for $30. The frame is so wild I had to have it. The painting is signed Jan McKay 73. The outside frame is 61 by 51 cm (24 x 20 inches) and is constructed (without glue that I can tell) of sharply cut wood pieces that remind me of old clothes pins. It’s so bizarre and hurts if you handle it incorrectly, that I had to see what you might find out for me. — Jan, Clandeboye, Ont.
A.Your frame is a good piece of Canadian folk art by amateur woodcarver Arthur Sauvé (18961973) of Maxville, Ont. Sauvé took up woodcarving when he returned from the First World War in ill health and needed to augment his pension. His work included crucifixes, human figures, musical instruments and whirligigs. This frame style has been called “Crown of Thorns,” and is a fine example of how folk art represents the lives of ordinary people. Since Sauvé died in 1973, there may be some significance in the 1973 copy of Albrecht Durer’s famous 15th century “The Praying Hands.” Although there is a fair amount of folk art around, little is either signed or positively attributed to a well-known maker. The frame and painting together are worth about $250.