A double portrait by Ammi Phillips of a young boy and his older sister that passed to auction from a direct descendent of the sitters attained $782,500 with buyer’s premium at Christie’s auction of important folk art on Friday, January 22.

The oil on canvas painting, “Double Portrait of Theron Simpson Ludington (1850‱922) and His Older Sister Virginia Ludington (1846‱865),” circa 1855, was estimated to bring $300/500,00 and was the cover lot for the auction catalog.

While single portraits by Ammi Phillips are well documented, there are less than ten full-length double portraits, according to the catalog notes.

At press time, Christie’s was not releasing any information on the buyer and was preparing a release on the complete Americana Week results for its auctions.

A full review of the sale will appear in a future issue.