Scottsdale Art Auction
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Spring 2026 | Session 2 (Lots 196-462)

Sat, Apr 11, 2026 03:00AM EDT
  2026-04-11 03:00:00 2026-04-11 03:00:00 America/New_York Scottsdale Art Auction Scottsdale Art Auction : Spring 2026 | Session 2 (Lots 196-462) https://bid.scottsdaleartauction.com/auctions/scottsdale-art-auction/spring-2026-session-2-lots-196-462-22666
This will be a two-day auction April 10th and 11th, 2026 featuring over 400 works. All lots displayed and open to the public for viewing beginning March 23, 2026 in our state-of-the-art exclusive showroom in Scottsdale, Arizona. Private viewing can be arranged by calling (480) 945-0225 or email info@scottsdaleartauction.com. Scottsdale Art Auction miranda@scottsdaleartauction.com
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Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936) 24 x 29 inches
Lot 287

Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936) 24 x 29 inches

Estimate: $150,000 - $250,000
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Starting Bid
$110,000
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Artist: Eanger Irving Couse Title: The Master Potter Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 24 x 29 inches Signed: Signed lower right Framed/Base: 33 x 39 inches

Condition

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This lot's overall appearance is Excellent. For more details please view the attached Condition Report.

Condition Reports are for guidance only and should not be relied upon as statements of fact, and do not constitute a representation, warranty, or assumption of liability by Scottsdale Art Auction. Scottsdale Art Auction strongly encourages in-person inspection of items by the bidder. All lots offered are sold “AS IS”. Please refer to item two (2) in our Terms and Conditions for further information.

Overall Dimensions
Height: 33.00
Width: 39.00

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Provenance:
The artist, Taos, NM
Frank C. Freyermuth, Chicago, 1921
J. W. Young, Chicago, 1923
D. H. Hatfield, Chicago, 1923
Private Collection
Bonham’s California, San Francisco, CA, 1997
J.N. Bartfield Galleries, New York, NY
Private collection, New York, NY
By descent in family, New York, NY
Private collection, Montana
 
Exhibitied:
1921 Southern Art Co.: Southern Art Company, Souther Art Company, Memphis, Tenn., September 15, 1921, as The Master Potter.
  
Some of Eanger Irving Couse’s most masterful works feature Native American figures admiring objects in moody interior scenes. The artist painted his subjects with pueblo carvings, baskets, beadwork and carved flutes, but no other art forms appear in his pieces more than pottery, which he worked into more than a dozen major paintings. In The Master Potter, the figure looks into the opening of an Acoma Pueblo pot, known for its thin and hand-coiled walls, smooth matte-like finish and elaborate designs painted on white clay. Couse designed many of his paintings using photography in the studio, which allowed him to dial in the composition to his liking before turning to his easel. Many of the photographs exist still today at the Couse-Sharp Historic Site and its archives at the Lunder Research Center. One image in the archive shows model Ben Lujan with both pots from The Master Potter. Lujan’s position is reversed and the pose is different, but the image captures Lujan in a nearly identical scene. (Indian Potter, a painting from 1914, shows a more exact depiction of the photo. The work is in the collection of the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California.) The photo and subsequent paintings reveal how meticulous Couse was in his studio when it came to staging his scenes and the objects used. The artist first met Lujan during his first stay in Taos in May 1902. Lujan was 10 years old. “No more important event took place that summer than this meeting, as it was the beginning of an enduring association between the artist and this young model,” wrote Virginia Couse Leavitt in Eanger Irving Couse: The Life and Time of An American Artist, 1866-1936.

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