Copley Fine Art Auctions will hold its 11th annual Sporting Sale July 23-24 at the Hotel 1620 in historic Plymouth, Massachusetts. A special auction preview party and a decoy and sporting art dealer show will take place Saturday, with Sunday’s bidding on more than 470 lots beginning at 10 a.m.; preview times run from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m.
Perennially balanced between fine art and decoys, Copley will offer a wide range of American, folk, sporting, wildlife, and Western art. With its reputation for honesty, integrity, and accuracy, Copley continues to set benchmarks in these fields.
A watercolor by American master Andrew Wyeth titled Terns on Little Green Island, Maine will highlight the selection of American paintings ($70,000-$80,000), along with Frank W. Benson’s watercolor Poling the Canoe ($50,000-$60,000) and A.B. Frost’s watercolor Grouse Shooting in the Rhododendrons ($50,000-$70,000).
Paintings by artists George Browne, Roland Clark, Richard LaBarre Goodwin, Owen J. Gromme, Lynn Bogue Hunt, Francis Lee Jaques, David A. Maass, Gustav Muss-Arnolt, Edmund Osthaus, Ogden Pleissner, Aiden Lassell Ripley, and John Whorf will be available, along with works by contemporary sporting artists Luke Frazier, John Swan, Peter Corbin, Chet Reneson, and many others.
This summer’s sale will also include a diverse grouping of decoys, with important works on offer from a wide range of carving regions. A black-bellied plover by Massachusetts maker Lothrop Holmes out of the collection of Dr. James M. McCleery highlights the offering ($150,000-$175,000). Waterfowl decoys are led by a wigeon drake by John Blair, Sr. of Philadelphia ($70,000-$90,000). Also available will be a hollow black-bellied plover by a Massachusetts carver ($60,000-$80,000), a preening mallard hen by Illinois carver Bert Graves and painter Catherine Elliston ($45,000-$65,000), and a wigeon hen by North Carolina maker Lee Dudley with impeccable form, execution, rarity, condition, and provenance ($40,000-$60,000).
Online bidding will be available through Bidsquare. A full-color catalog is available, and preview images can be seen at copleypreview.com. For more information, a full schedule of events, or to order a catalog, please send an email to info@copleyart.com, call (617) 536-0030, or visit copleyart.com.
Arthur B. Frost, “Grouse Shooting in the Rhododendrons,” watercolor, 17 1/2 by 25 3/4 in., Estimate: $50,000-$70,000, lot 59a
George Browne, “Green-Winged Teal,” oil on canvas, 24 1/2 by 29 1/2 in., Estimate: $12,000-$18,000, lot 51
Frank W. Benson, “Poling the Canoe,” 1929, watercolor, 20 by 24 1/2 in., Estimate: $50,000-$60,000, lot 38
John Blair, Sr., “Wigeon Drake,” c. 1880, Estimate: $80,000-$100,000, lot 268
Aiden Lassell Ripley, “Gobbler and Hen Turkeys,” watercolor, 25 by 21 in., Estimate: $10,000-$15,000, lot 61
Robert Elwell, “The Dying Day,” 1927, oil on canvas, 40 by 30 in., Estimate: $20,000-$25,000, lot 90
The McCleery-Holmes Plover by Lothrop Holmes, “Black-Bellied Plover,” c. 1880, Estimate: $150,000-$175,000, lot 309