NEW ORLEANS, LA NEAL AUCTION COMPANY
MARCH 24-25
Important Spring Estates Auction
Three rare and important murals by Clementine Hunter that were painted early in her career for the walls of Melrose Plantation in Natchitoches, Louisiana, will come to market during Neal Auction Company’s Important Spring Estates Auction.the plantation was purchased in 1884 by Joseph Henry, whose daughter-inlaw, Cammie Henry, turned the plantation into a creative haven for artists and writers. The murals—including Harvesting Gourds near the Africa House and Wash Day near the Ghana House (est. $20/30,000)—were sold as part of the plantation’s auction in 1970 and their location was unknown for almost half a century. According to the auction house,“the return of these historic paintings to New Orleans in its tricentennial year affords a wonderful opportunity for new scholarship on one of Louisiana’s most noted and beloved artists.” are two works by John
Ross Key, including a scene off Mount Desert Island, Maine, that has an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000.An Cyrus Edwin Dallin bronze titled On the War Path (est. $15/25,000) and a vineyard scene by Dawson Dawsonwatson, which is estimated at $8,000 to $12,000, are also noteable.
Outside the collection is a small Louis Comfort Tiffany watercolor that is expected to sell between $3,000 and $5,000 and a 19th-century American School portrait of three children that has a presale estimate of $15,000 to $20,000.A Dutch forest scene by Barend Cornelis Koekkoek will also cross the block, carrying an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000.