PLAINVILLE, CONN. — An offering of Connecticut estate material was presented in a live auction by Winter Associates on October 3, with a rare privately owned oil on canvas attributed to Erastus Salisbury Field (American, 1805-1900) from a New Haven estate making an equally rare appearance across the block. Between 1865 and 1880, Field created a series of paintings illustrating the Ten Plagues of Egypt intended as decoration for the walls of the North Congregational Church in North Amherst, Mass. The artist’s deep religious beliefs and strongly held anti-slavery views expressed in these and other biblical works were no doubt the result of his relationship since boyhood with this church. Known as unusually progressive, and with a commitment to biblical text, the church’s congregation included many members of the Amherst Anti-Slavery Society decades before the Civil War which, in 1830, had removed a clause that denied Blacks the privilege of a seat. Inspired by a mezzotint of the “Seventh Plague of Egypt” by the English artist John Martin, Field’s version of “Aaron in a Hailstorm” depicted a port city in a violent storm, viewed from a terrace above, with the figure of Aaron, arms upraised, pointing his staff at the panicked crowds below. The 21¾-by-26½-inch painting led the firm’s sale, bid to $9,000, including buyer’s premium. More highlights from this sale will be presented in a later review.