Tri-State Area

Early 19th Century W. Chinese Ningxia Carpet 5'4" x 9'8" - 163 x 295

Ghiordes, slightly to the east of Oushak in western Turkey, is famed for antique prayer format rugs. This somewhat worn, but still characterful carpet from circa 1820 has an open lig...

Mid 19th Century N.W. Persian Carpet with Mina Khani Pattern ( 5'4 x 11' x 163 x 335 )

Alfred S. Wall (American, 1825-1896) Untitled (Building the Railroad), 1859 Oil on canvas 14 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches Signed and dated lower left For Christmas, 2008, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette featured Alfred Wall's painting, Old Saw Mill from the collection of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, PA. It was painted in 1851 in the town of Lilly, Pennsylvania in the Allegheny Mountains. The newspaper description stated that "though the saw mill is long gone, it still conveys all the warmth and coziness of this time of year. The article, written by Patricia Lowry, continued: At first glance, Alfred S. Wall's painting of a saw mill in snowy woods triggers nostalgia for the coziness of a log cabin, the smell of a wood-burning fire and the warming of chilled hands and feet beside it. But as sentimental as it seems on the surface, Mr. Wall's painting has a deeper and unexpected context. This is more than a painting about sled-riding children and early industry planted in the middle of virgin forest. Intended or not, this is a painting about conquering the great divide of the Allegheny Mountains. For the third consecutive year, the Post-Gazette features a winter-scene painting on the cover of the Christmas Day newspaper. This year's painting, Old Saw Mill, was selected by co-publisher and editor-in-chief John Robinson Block and executive editor David Shribman during a visit to the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg. Mr. Wall, listed as a portrait painter in the 1850 census, was about 26 when he painted Old Saw Mill in 1851. The self-taught artist was born in Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, to William and Lucy Wall, who'd emigrated from England around 1820. An artistic sensibility ran in the family: William was a sculptor who carved ornate tombstones here; Alfred's children, A. Bryan and Bessie, were landscape painters, as was Alfred's older brother, William Coventry Wall. For more than a century the Walls formed a prominent art dynasty in Pittsburgh, and Alfred, eventually a partner in the city's most prestigious art gallery, was well known as a painter, dealer and restorer. In Old Saw Mill, two wood cutters, each holding an axe, meet outside the mill; one points in the direction of the forest. On the other side of the stream, one child pulls another down the hillside on a sled. Just behind the hill's slope, the roof of a building appears, perhaps the home of the sawyer. The luminous, late afternoon light comes from the northwest, casting lengthening shadows on the snow under a darkening sky. The saw mill in "Old Saw Mill" likely would have been impossible to track down had Mr. Wall, presumably, not written on the back of the painting: "old saw mill near Jct. 4, Portage RR, Pa." "There was no Junction 4," said Mike Garcia, park ranger at the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, about 90 miles east of Pittsburgh near Gallitzen, Cambria County. "But there was an Inclined Plane No. 4 at Lilly, and there was a saw mill there." In fact, there were at least six saw mills at Lilly over the years, said longtime resident Jim Salony, president of the Lilly-Washington Historical Society. But when he saw an image of the painting, Mr. Salony had no trouble coming up with a location. While there are no known photographs of the saw mill, he believes it stood near the intersection of Portage and Washington streets, next to Bear Rock Run. Mr. Salony, retired academic dean at Mount Aloysius College, didn't know exactly when the mill was torn down, but it's been gone since at least the late 1800s. He was pleased to learn of the painting, even though that knowledge came too late for inclusion in a new book about Lilly, The Spirit of a Community, for which he served as primary author and editor. It runs to more than 700 pages. For a little town -- population 869 last year -- Lilly has a lot of history. Nestled in a bowl on the western slope of the Allegheny Mountains about 3 miles south of Cresson, Lilly was first settled in 1806 by Joseph Meyer and his family, who named their 332-acre land patent Dundee. Although the Meyers had left by 1811, other settlers followed, but the community didn't flourish until the 1830s, when the Allegheny Portage Railroad began its 23-year-run through the town. For 200 years the Alleghenies had stood as an impediment to trade and travel between Pittsburgh and the east. A canal from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh would change that and compete with New York's Erie Canal. But a portage railroad would have to be built, on which teams of horses would lead the canal boats over the mountains. Engineer Sylvester Welch began his surveying from the small settlement at Lilly. The railroad would require 10 inclined planes, some quite steep, between Hollidaysburg and Johnstown. To build it, trees had to be cut along a 120-foot-wide right-of-way for 36 miles, along which track and engine houses had to be built. William Brown, who owned the saw mill on Bear Rock Run, built at least one of the engine houses at Inclined Plane No. 4; an 1834 contract also included fencing the dwelling lots at the head and foot of the plane. Lilly is located at what was the foot of Inclined Plane No. 4., giving the community one of its early informal names, Foot of Four. Named in 1883 for Richard Lilly, who'd completed the grist mill there, Lilly had another early name: Hemlock, so dubbed by a Portage Railroad traveler who smelled the bark stripped from the trees at the saw mill. Because there isn't another Allegheny Portage Railroad location like it, where a cut in the mountains opens into a bowl, Mr. Salony thinks it was Lilly that Charles Dickens wrote about following his trip from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh on the Pennsylvania Canal in late March 1842, describing what he saw after emerging from "the bottom of the cut": "It was very pretty while traveling, to look down into a valley full of light and softness, catching glimpses through the tree-tops of scattered cabins; children running to the doors; dogs bursting out to bark, who we could see without hearing; terrified pigs scampering homeward; families sitting out in their rude gardens; cows gazing upward with a stupid indifference; men in their shirt-sleeves looking on at their unfinished houses, planning out to-morrow's work; and we riding onward, high above them, like a whirlwind." To get to Lilly, Mr. Wall may have taken the Pennsylvania Canal from his home in Allegheny City, now the North Side. He'd married young, at 21, to Sarah Carr in 1846, the same year he began his career as an artist. By 1880 they were living in a brick townhouse at 104 (later 814) Arch St., now demolished. Across the river in Pittsburgh he shared a studio at 67 Fourth Ave. with his brother William; they later moved to Burke's Building, today the city's oldest office building at 209-211 Fourth. But often they worked outdoors, sometimes as part of the colony of artists that grew up around painter George Hetzel beginning in the late 1860s at Scalp Level...

German Passover Pewter plate dated 1825. The plate with raised rim engraved in Hebrew with the Order of the Seder of Passover, In center, geometric design, surrounded by Hebrew text...

Mid-19th Century W. Chinese Ningxia Carpet ( 6'9" x 9'6" - 205 x 290 )

Mid 19th Century N.W. Persian Carpet 3' 3" x 16' 5"

Mid 19th Century Persian Farahan Carpet 7'10" x 16'8" - 239 x 508

Pair of Gorham, coin silver open salt cellars, made circa 1855 to 1860, beautifully adorned with floral and cartouche motifs. They measure 2 1/2'' in diameter by 1 2/3'' in height, a...

With a five outscrolled electrified candlearms issuing from a bronze ring hung with crystal beaded swags and drop pendants, hung from four chains suspended from a disc issuing arched cut glass pendants; with canopy...

Mid 19th Century N.W. Persian Runner Carpet

Rare mid-19th century "Vierlander" armchair, Prussia 1850, with owner's name "Hinrich Eggers", constructed of inlaid fruitwoods and walnut, with turned bone finials, the central back...

Early 19th Century Chinese Ningxia Rug ( 2'4" x2'4" -72 x 72 )

Picturesque 1822 engraving of the pyramid built as a tomb for Gaius Cestius, circa 18 BC. Luigi Rossini (1790-1857) was an Italian artist celebrated for his view...

Pair of 1850s Italian gilt wood lamps. Wood is painted a light grey.

A Magnificent pair of 19th century Louis XVI Style ormolu mounted chinese famille verte porcelain vases turned to lamps, the ormolu attributed to Henry Dasson. The ormolu mounted Chi...

Early 19th Century Caucasian Harshang Kuba Carpet ( 4'10" x 11'10" - 147 x 361 )

AUTHOR: PARKER, Moses. TITLE: Trial of Moses Parker, James Buckland, Joseph Wade, William Walker, Cornelius Holly, Abra Ham Potts and Noah Doremus,... for the Murder of David R. La...

Mid 19th Century Turkish Kula Rug ( 4'6" x 5' - 137 x 152 )

Mid 19th Century N.W. Persian Karadagh Carpet

This antique 12x14 Kilim is an extremely rare Bessarabian flat weave in new additions to Rug & Kilim’s collection. Handwoven in wool, we believe it originates from Russia circa 1850-...

A most popular drawing master, Lesourd-Beauregard exhibited extensively at the Paris Salons, and was awarded a medal in 1842. He is famous for his in depth botanical studies done in...

A Rare and Fine Quality Antique 19th Century KPM Painting on Porcelain Plaque after Gabriel Metsu’s ‘Lovers at Breakfast’ (Dated 1661), Metsu with his wife Isabella de Wolff in a Tav...

Mid 19th Century Caucasian Shirvan Carpet ( 3' x 9' - 91 x 274 )

Mid 19th Century Chinese Ningxia Carpet ( 8' x 9'4" - 245 x 285 )

English Porcelain cottage pastille burner, circa 1820.

Rare and exceptional 19th century silver oil lamp supported by the figure of Mercury after the model by Giambologna, by the Italian silversmith, Angelo Giannotti (1824-1865) of Bolog...

A fine pair of Empire period standard silver candlesticks from England circa 1820. Each stick has a squared tapered shaft decorated with still-leafed border as well as beaded bandi...

Louis Leopoldo Boilly print of men smoking. Dated 1824.

Antique Persian N.W Rug, Size: 3'4" x20'6"

Antique Turkish Yuruk rug. Measures: 3'7" x 11'0".

Mid-19th Century N. Chinese Mongolian Carpet ( 10'4" x 13'4" - 315 x 405 )

Mid-19th Century French Aubusson Carpet Louis Philippe Period 8'10" x 10'10" - 270 x 330

French, circa 1820. Porcelain, painted and gilded, with applied bisquit flowers 8 13/16 in. high. Inscribed (with incised mark, under the base of each): 3.   

Mid-19th Century N.E. Persian Herat Carpet ( 6'3" x 7'10" - 191 x 239 )

Mid-19th Century Central Asian Beshir Gallery Carpet 6'7" x 21'4" -201 x 650

A hand-colored aquatint engraving dated January 1, 1825 and engraved by T. Sutherland, London. Titled "South Sea Whale Fishery", after a painting by Will...

A striking end table with gilt trim on white ground having an octagonal top and a pedestal base with castors. Irish, circa 1820.

Mid 19th Century Chinese Ningxia Carpet, Size: 2' 8"x 12' 6"

A Victorian Cushion Amethyst and two Oval Topaz stones Brooch made in 18k Gold. There is no gold mark but it has been tested. The weight of the brooc...

The body and hinged lid with mother of pearl and brass-line inlay. The fitted interior is lined with purple velvet. With a brass escutcheon and bun foot.

Antique N.W.Persian Rug, Size: 6' 0'' x10' 8''

Early 19th Century W. Chinese Saddle Cover 2'2" x 4'3".

Late 19th Century NW Persian Carpet ( 3'8" x 14'8" - 112 x 448 cm )

Early 19th Century N.W. Persian Gallery Carpet Dated 1822 7'4" x 15'10" - 224

Hand-picked by buyers at Ann Morris Inc.

Mid-19th Century N.W. Persian Bakshaiesh Paisley Carpet 4'10" x 7'8" - 147 x 235

An Extremely Rare 19th Century Russian Empire Ormolu, Hand-Diamond Cut Crystal and Jeweled Inkwell. The inkwell features a circular base with a faceted crystal insert, framed by an ...

Mid 19th Century W. Chinese Ningxia Carpet ( 7'6" x 10'4" - 228 x 315 )

A brilliant, richly-inked impression of this etching and drypoint printed in dark brownish black on antique cream laid paper with very strong contrasts....

Very large early 19th century English gilt and painted wood overmantel mirror with carved acanthus leaf carved caps on the ends of the smooth gilt co...

Early 19th Century French Empire Period Aubusson Carpet ( 13 6'' x 16'3'' - 410 x 495 )

Mid-19th Century W. Chinese Ningxia Carpet ( 4'10" x 5'6" - 147 x 168 )

19th Century Turkish Anatolian Melas Prayer Rug ( 4 x 6' - 122 x 183 )

Mid 19th Century W. Chinese Ningxia Kang Carpet ( 7'2" x 13'2" - 218 x 402 )

Very fine set of mid-19th century bronze handled steel fire tools, the elaborately cast handles with foliate designs, the shaped dished shovel with oval ...

Mid 19th Century Chinese Ningxia Carpet ( 5'9" x 9'2" - 175 x 280 )

Mid-19th Century Chinese Ningxia Carpet ( 5'2" x 10'2" - 157 x 310 )

Mid 19th Century W. Persian Kurdish Shrub Runner Carpet 3' x 14'6'' - 90 x 443

Mid 19th Century N.W Persian Gallery Carpet ( 5'10" x 16'7" -178 x 505 )