Fashioned of heavy-duty bronze, this superb ceiling rosette for suspending a chandelier is finished in finest fire-gilding with burnished highlights. The design of radiating acanthus leaves is both subtle and elegant. Probably French or German, it is about seven inches in diameter and is in excellent condition, ready for a fine lighting fixture.

Sold to by a collector who thought this stately item was a chess piece and was disgruntled to find its true intent, it is handsomely engraved and inlaid with red and ochre. Approximately 3-1/2 inches tall and 1-1/8 inches in diameter, it is Persian or Northern Indian and dates from the latter part of the Eighteenth Century.

This elegant vase or tumbler is decorated in the classical Biedermeier style with a scene of Lake Erlaf, the mystical setting made famous by Franz Schubert’s lied, “Am Erlaf-See” (1817). Framed by graceful gilded motifs is a minutely executed Schwartzlot painting (black monochrome)on the outside surface picturing the lake and its surrounding forested mountains and isolated buildings, the whole backed by a whitened surface that gives illumination and depth to the scene...

The Little Corporal's boots, reinterpreted as table-match holders, stand by his boot-jack, which serves as striker. This finely crafted porcelain fantasy, probably French, is approximately 4/12 inches tall on a plinth about 4 inches by three inches. Condition is excellent, with only minor wear to the gilding at the top of the plinth, and a small under-glaze chip at the base.

So sleek and elegant as to seem Art Deco this excellent rosewood is veneered in carefully matched palmyrawood and ebony veneers. Joins are made with ebony pegs. The full-length hinge and lock plate (no key) are superb quality. Interior is unlined and there is a pin-seal leatherette covering to the bottom. Condition is first rate, with few signs of age or use. Approximately 15-1/4 inches long by 4-7/8 inches wide by 3-3/4 inches to top of gently domed top.

Still retaining the essence of the rose oil it once held, this flacon is magnificanet in it simplicity and balance. Approximately 3-34 inches tall and 1-1/4 inches in diameter, it was made in the Moghul Empire in the late Eighteenth Century.

Incorporating what must have been the lid a large 17th Century jar of Rouen faience, this handsome French inkstand is mounted in finely detailed antiqued bronze. Dating from around 1870, it is approximately 8-1/2 inches in diameter and five inches high. It is in excellent condition.

A charming bit of rustic handicraft is this small snuff-box made of carefully built-up thin layers of serrated birch bark held in place by many tiny brass nails. Small cut-out circles reveal a surprise of blue underneath, and a trace of shiny brown at the base suggests that it was probably originally bound like that all around the top and bottom in that manner. The original leather thong still forms the handle for the top. Early to mid-Nineteenth Century, probably Tyrolean or Alpine...

A good mark of a fine jewel is that the back is finished as properly as the front. This piece meets that criterion: its sculptural Art Nouveau gold-work is delightful from any angle. Sporting a fine cornflower blue sapphire, it is at once delicate and powerful. Fourteen karat. Circa 1900.

Serene in meditation, Buddha sits upon a high-relief lotus with petals glazed in the prussian blue that is one of the signature colors of Kutani porcelain. Buddha’s elegant black robe is decorated in a lustrous black glaze that imitates fine brocade by its contrasting matte and gloss finishes. Repeated polychrome roundels of the wisteria mon (badge) brighten the robe. Japanese, Taisho Era, late Nineteenth to early Twentieth Centuries. Approximately 7-1/4 inches high by 4-3/4 inches wide...

Just in time for Christmas, here comes Santa Claus in the form of an excellently painted cut-out from our country’s first Christmas store, founded by Leonard Brynolf Johnson in 1932 at Smethport, Pennsylvania. Dating from around 1945, the jolly old man, with his bag of gifts and “Merry Christmas” scrolls is 61 inches tall and 39 inches wide. Hand-painted on construction board and bearing Johnson’s label, it is in excellent condition and unbolts into two parts for shipping and storage...

High-waisted and sporting a fine ogee handle, this hand-wrought Northern Provincial cup is of fine quality mine silver. An owner’s mark is ratchet-engraved on the bottom. It measures about three inches diameter at the handle and 2-3/4 inches tall. Late 18th Century. Excellent condition.