Clars’ September Gallery Auction will provide an elevated experience, bringing together an Important Arts & Crafts Collection that features distinguished designers.

The Arts & Crafts section is led by a Dirk Van Erp hammered copper and mica rivet-base table lamp, featuring a vented shade, original mica, and closed-box mark with the ghost of D’Arcy Gaw. The 19-inch-high lamp is estimated at $8,000–$10,000.

A Tiffany Studios Favrile lamp, measuring 17.5 inches high, carries an estimate of $5,000–$7,000. A fascinating piece of Panama-Pacific International Exposition history is represented by a cased presentation box of fitted Novagems, given to Edwin J. Symmes in 1915 in appreciation of his architectural contributions to the exhibition’s “Joy Zone.” The boxed set is expected to achieve $5,000–$7,000.

The collection continues with an early L. & J.G. Stickley three-door bookcase, #331½, Onondaga Shops, estimated at $4,000–$6,000, and a Gustav Stickley spindle Morris chair, estimated at $2,500–$3,500. Collectors will also find an impressive group of works associated with Dirk Van Erp and Elizabeth D’Arcy Gaw, including two hammered copper “warty” bowls, as well as an Arts and Crafts Wilder Bentley leaded glass door, original to the Frederickson House in Berkeley, California, estimated at $2,000–$4,000.

Furniture highlights include a Gustav Stickley nine-drawer chest, estimated at $2,000–$5,000; a Gustav Stickley Eastwood, New York, bookcase, estimated at $1,500–$2,500; a Gustav Stickley model 65 dining table, estimated at $1,500–$2,500; and a Gustav Stickley leather-top lamp table, also estimated at $1,500–$2,500. Several Stickley pieces carry provenance from Isak Lindenauer, San Francisco.

Ceramics include a rare Rookwood Kataro Shirayamadani iris-decorated vase, estimated at $2,000–$3,000, and a rare and massive Teco Pottery floor vase with steel-blue matte glaze, estimated at $2,000–$4,000. A hand-hammered copper and mica floor lamp rounds out the lighting selection at $2,000–$4,000.

California has a lengthy history of woodworking and studio furniture design. One of the most renowned master woodworkers was Arthur Espenet Carpenter.

Born in 1920, Arthur Espenet Carpenter was a self-taught furniture maker. He began making wood turned bowls at his studio in San Francisco in the late 1940s to early 1950s. By the mid-1950s, he had expanded to build custom furniture. Carpenter found that production was so busy that he felt disconnected from the furniture building process. In 1957, he decided that it was time to relocate to Bolinas, California, where he custom built his own house for his family. At his Bolinas studio, Espenet would create unique one-of-a-kind pieces for his clients, as well as his most well-known iconic pieces, such as the Wishbone armchair.

Espenet valued function as well as form. While his furniture pieces appear quite sculptural, they were also designed with comfort and utility in mind. For example, the arm hits the armrest of the Wishbone chair at just the right angle. Clars is offering a suite of eight Wishbone chairs, including two armchairs, with an auction estimate of $20,000–$30,000 in our June 15th Design auction. Also to be offered is a stunning dining table having five butterfly inlays, estimated at $10,000–$15,000.

While there’s a certain simplicity or minimalism to Espenet’s designs, great attention is also paid to the finer details. An example of this point is the drop-down cabinet, which features a wood turned locking knob above well carved hinged supports, that sold at Clars for $5,937.

Another example of Espenet’s extraordianry attention to detail can be seen in a set of two nesting walnut low tables, which commanded $6,875 at auction. While seemingly simple, the tables feature exposed dovetail joinery.

The featured Arthur Espenet Carpenter jewelry box below, while quite functional, is also very sculptural. The contoured form has six bandsaw-carved drawers that feature prominently on the case.

Though Arthur Espenet Carpenter passed away in 2006, his legacy continues with his son, Tripp Carpenter, who learned woodworking as a child, and now is a professional woodworker in his own right.