Mason's Highly Decorated Vase  c. 1820  Janice Paull

(New York):The inaugural Art and Antique Dealers League of America (AADLA) Spring Show NYC stands up for our four-legged friends with an opening night preview, on Wednesday, April 27, at the Park Avenue Armory that benefits ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®). Guests at the preview will discover a special selection of animal-themed artworks at each of the sixty dealer booths, with a portion of proceeds from those works going to the ASPCA.  It's an art bash with a wild side.

Honorary Co-chairs of the Connoisseurs Committee are Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. The committee co-chairs include: Michael Bruno, Mario Buatta, David Patrick Columbia, Celerie Kemble, Brian McCarthy, Miles Redd, Ellen and Chuck Scarborough, Michael Smith, Bunny Williams and Vicente Wolf.  1stdibs.com (www.1stdibs.com), the online luxury marketplace for antiques, 20th and 21st century design, estate and fine jewelry, vintage couture, and fine art is the show's sponsor.

	Ceremonial Animal Dakakari, Nigerian 20th Century Earhtenware Douglas Dawson

Here are some of the show's highlights:

Game Park Tapestry Panel Flemish Late 17th Century Wool and Silk Vojtech Blau

Ancient and modern cultures alike have recognized the totemic power of animals to symbolize specific character traits or cultural values, and animal motifs figure into many ritual and ceremonial objects as a result. At Douglas Dawson, an enigmatic earthenware figurine from 20th-century Nigeria, used as a burial marker, bears both human and animal features; at Arnold Lieberman, a 19th-century statue of Ganapati, the beloved part-human, part-elephant Hindu deity, is fashioned from gilt brass and hails from Nepal. Animals might also signify more pragmatic attributes like power and wealth, as evidenced in a lustrous carpet in gold and blue from 19th-century China that depicts the eight horses of Zhou dynasty emperor Mu Wang. Find it at M. Topalian Fine Antique Carpets.  And for a wall adornment, Vojtech Blau offers a beautiful six and half foot high late 17th century Flemish Game Park wool and silk tapestry panel.

Hyde Park Antiques William IV Elm Armchairs, Circa 1830

Other pieces approach their animal subjects in a more playful manner. Take, for example, the artfully sculpted dog figures on offer at a handful of dealers.

Clinton Howell has a painted terra cotta bullmastiff with lifelike glass eyes (Austria, c. 1870) that begs for a new home. O'Sullivan Antiques stocks a similar piece from 19th-century Austria, this one of a seated pug. And at R.M. Barokh, a lovably shaggy white-haired mutt from 19th-century England stands at attention, ready to be adopted. If dogs aren't enough, try a pair of French bookends (c. 1885) from Charles Cheriff galleries, which feature a lively cat-and-pup duo in patina bronze, each atop their own gilt-bronze pouf. Or perhaps a princely pair of Late Regency gilt bronze stirrup cups (c. 1840) from N.P. Trent Antiques, one sporting the head of a lion and the other a fox; or from Orientations Gallery, a late-19th century life-like Japanese ivory sculpture of an Akita, the eyes inlaid with horn for a realistic effect. Hyde Park Antiques offers a handsome pair of Irish William IV Elm Armchairs, Circa 1830, with the unusual feature of dog-form arm supports.

Rosa Bonheur French, 1822-1899 Horses Near the Seaside (Chevaux en Bord de Mer) Shiller & Bodo European Paintings
Johann Christoph Rincklake A Sporting Dog Lying Down Oil on canvas, unlined L'Antiquaire & The Connoisseur

Still, fine art caves to the canines with a lovable pet portrait, A Sporting Dog Lying Down (c. 1800), by German painter Johann Christoph Rincklake, on view at L'Antiquaire & The Connoisseur. And at Jack Kilgore & Co., German genre painter Fritz Von Uhde's Les Chiens Savants (The Performing Dogs) (1880) centers on a pack of precocious poodles in party hats entertaining an appreciative pack of tavern-goers. Bring this one home and who knows-your own pet pup might just learn a few new tricks.

# # # #

GENERAL INFORMATION
With a roster of sixty top specialists from all over the United States, the AADLA Spring Show NYC - at the heart of New York's Art & Antiques Week - will offer something for every collector's taste, whether scholarly or decorative. Visitors will be lured into the Armory's grand exhibition hall with a dramatic mise-en-scene created by interior designer and tastemaker Lars Bolander, the Swedish designer recognized for his signature style of mixing the old with the new.

ABOUT AADLA
The Art and Antique Dealers League of America, Inc., is the oldest and principal antiques and fine arts organization in America. The purpose for organizing the league was to bring the various members of the art and antiques trade closer together to promote a greater understanding among themselves and with the public, and generally to devote itself to the best interest of dealers and collectors of antiques and works of art.

ABOUT 1STDIBS.COM
1stdibs.com, the Spring Show NYC sponsor, is an online luxury marketplace that presents a carefully curated selection of highly coveted items from the most prestigious dealers in high-end antiques, 20th- and 21st-century design, estate- and fine-jewelry, vintage couture, and fine art.  Founded in 2001 by Michael Bruno as a way to bring Parisian flea market finds to the world, today the site now lists over 2,000 new items each week, totaling over 100,000 pieces annually and sells everything from Venetian windows to classic Eames furniture.

	Large painted figure of a bull mastiff with glass eyes terra cotta Austrian, Circa 1870 Clinton Howell Antiques

ABOUT ASPCA
Founded in 1866, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) is the first humane organization established in the Americas and serves as the nation's leading voice for animal welfare. One million supporters strong, the ASPCA's mission is to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States. A 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit corporation, the ASPCA is a national leader in the areas of anti-cruelty, community outreach and animal health services. The ASPCA, which is headquartered in New York City, offers a wide range of programs, including a mobile clinic outreach initiative, its own humane law enforcement team, and a groundbreaking veterinary forensics team and mobile animal CSI unit.

GENERAL INFORMATION
The Spring Show NYC opens with a benefit preview for the ASPCA, at the Park Avenue Armory, Park Avenue and 67th Street, on Wednesday, April 27, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM by VIP invitation or $250 at the door. After 7 PM admission is $75 and the preview continues to 9:00 PM. All proceeds from preview tickets go to the ASPCA. The Honorary Co-chairs of the Connoisseurs Committee are Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. The Committee co-chairs include: Michael Bruno, Mario Buatta, David Patrick Columbia, Celerie Kemble, Brian McCarthy,
Miles Redd, Ellen and Chuck Scarborough, Michael Smith, Bunny Williams, and Vicente Wolf.

The show opens to the public on Thursday, April 28. Hours are Thursday, April 28: 11:00 AM to 7:30 PM; Friday, April 29: 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM; Saturday, April 30: 11:00 AM to 7:30 PM; Sunday, May 1: 11:00 AM to 7:30 PM; and Monday, May 2: 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. General admission is $20 per person; a five-day pass is $40 per person.

Arts' Night Out, celebrating New York's Art and Antiques Week with young new collectors, is slated for Friday, April 29, from 5 - 9 pm. The $30 ticket available at the door includes that day's admission to the AADLA Spring Show NYC plus beer, wine and Absolut cocktails beginning at 5 pm. Arts' Night Out is sponsored by Doyle New York, Antiques and Fine Arts Magazine, and Absolut Vodka.  For additional information, visit springshownyc.com.

ABOUT THE ART FAIR COMPANY
The Art Fair Company, founded by Michael Franks, the former COO of dmg world media, and Mark Lyman, Founding Director of the Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fairs (SOFA), now produces SOFA fairs in Chicago, New York and Santa Fe, the leading contemporary decorative art and design fairs in the world. They also produce The Intuit Outsider and Folk Art Fair, in Chicago. The company also provides professional promotional and operational support to other art and antique fair producers.