An American Silver Tray Featuring Rosa Bonheur's The Horse Fair, Tiffany & Co., New York, Circa 1856-1860
Auction Closed
January 23, 08:30 PM GMT
Estimate
25,000 - 35,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
shaped oval, border with scrolling foliage and dolphin heads at intervals, four of which are flanked by mermaid cherubs, the handles centered with masks of Neptune, center engraved with a scene after Rosa Bonheur's painting The Horse Fair, marked on base and numbered 638/5905
198 oz
6158 g
length over handles 33 ¾ in.
85.7 cm
David Hunt, Natchez, Mississippi (1779-1861), by descent to
Marie Massie Hunt when it was used in collateral at the Jefferson County Bank, Fayette, MS in 1927 and acquired by ancestors of the present owner
The Horse Fair is Rosa Bonheur’s best-known painting and her self-described "Parthenon frieze." Gifted in 1887 by Cornelius Vanderbilt to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (87.25), it depicts the horse market held in Paris on the tree-lined Boulevard de l’Hôpital, near the asylum of Salpêtrière, which is visible in the left background. Bonheur was well established as an animal painter when the painting debuted at the Paris Salon of 1853, where it received wide praise.
David Hunt, known as "King David", was one of twelve millionaires living near Natchez, MS before the Civil War at a time when there were thirty-five millionaires in the entire United States. He resided at Woodlawn Plantation but controlled 25 plantations. The David Hunt letters, consisting of personal and business letters, are held at the Louisiana State University library.
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