NEW YORK CITY — An intriguing early Nineteenth Century oil on canvas portrait of two unidentified girls — one Black, one white and holding a chapbook inscribed Cinderella, similarly dressed and arms touching — made 19 times low estimate, selling online to London dealer Philip Mould underbid by the phone for $945,000, including premium. The unattributed picture crowned Christie’s 220-lot auction of Important Americana and highlighted the firm’s series of live Americana Week sales, which altogether achieved $15,842,862 for January 18-20. Reached by phone, Mould called the painting “extraordinarily rare for this period, as well as very affecting.” A leading authority on historic portraiture, Mould looks forward to further researching the work, which he hopes will eventually be on public view in an appropriate museum. Watch for a complete report on Christie’s Americana Week sales in an upcoming issue.