08-11-201208-11-2012
Skinner Auctions
Skinner AuctionsMarlborough MA
August 11, 2012 10:00 AMCalender
87

Domenico Gavarrone (Italian, 19th Century) Portrait of the Ship Sooloo of Salem Entering Genoa.

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$5,925$5,000
Auction: American Furniture & Decorative Arts - 2608MLocation: MarlboroughDate / Time: August 11, 2012 10:00AM

Description:

Domenico Gavarrone (Italian, 19th Century)

Portrait of the Ship Sooloo of Salem Entering Genoa. Signed, titled "Ship Sooloo Salem", and dated "Fece Domenico Gavarrone Genova, li 25 Lylis 1848" below. Gouache on paper, 18 x 25 in., in a later molded giltwood frame. Condition: Minor toning, foxing, paper applied to card.

Literature: See Salem vessels and their voyages: a history of the pepper trade with the island of Sumatra., by George Granville Putnam, The Essex Institute, publisher, Salem, Massachusetts, 1922, p. 148. "The Sooloo was built in South Salem by Elias Jenks & Co. and was launched November 12, 1940. She was 440 tons burden...[and] sailed from Salem, January 15, 1841 under the command of Captain Samuel Very, Jr., for Mobile, thence to Liverpool and the East Indies, and returned to Boston on her first voyage." She was reported lost on the coast of Sumatra in May of 1855 after she struck a sunken reef off Analaboo Point. On p. 146 an account of her demise is reported by Andrew S. Waters, mate.

Note: The signal flags the Sooloo is flying are identified as follows: a pilot jack from her fore-mast, calling for a pilot to lead her into Genoa (near the port one can see the pilot boat on the way out to her),her house flag from the main-mast, from her mizzen-mast the Marryat's Code flags, the second distinguishing pennant, followed by 3268, which properly identifies the ship as the Sooloo. Special thanks to Charles Lanagan for the signal flag information.

A similar painting of the same vessel by the same artist is in the collection at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.


Estimate $4,000-6,000

Keywords

Salem Entering, Massachusetts, The Essex Institute, Samuel Very , Jr., Domenico Gavarrone, Domenico Gavarrone Genova, Sumatra, Essex Institute, Elias Jenks & Co., Indies, East Indies, Andrew S. Waters, pilot, Charles Lanagan, Peabody Essex Museum, same artist