“George Washington at Princeton,” a 1790s depiction of the nation’s first president by Charles Peale Polk (1767‱822), led Christie’s Americana Week offerings, selling to Mount Vernon for $662,500 ($300/500,000). The price was a record at auction for the artist, a nephew of Charles Willson Peale and a cousin of Rembrandt Peale.
Honoring Washington’s success at the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777, the oil on canvas painting depicts the general posed in front of Nassau Hall, the oldest building on Princeton University’s campus.
Museum director James C. Rees placed the winning bid on behalf of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. Four major donors enabled the purchase.
“Polk is one of the most accomplished artist’s of Washington’s lifetime. We don’t have anything else by him in our collections, though we do have representations by Charles Willson Peale and Rembrandt Peale,” Rees said afterward. An exhibition opening at Mount Vernon, the most visited historic house in America, on February 21, “George Washington and his Generals,” will include a similar portrait, on loan to Mount Vernon. In 2010, “George Washington at Princeton” will embark on a nationwide tour to institutions.
“George Washington At Princeton” was one of a series of political likenesses that captured headlines at the Rockefeller Center salesroom, where Americana Week totals reached $6,456,351, including private treaty transactions. The results represented a significant drop versus 2008, when sales reached $18 million; and 2007, when they were nearly $24 million.
“The glass is half full. The prices were there for really good things,” said John Hays, deputy chairman of Christie’s Inc, reflecting on the current business climate. “We auctioned the Washington portrait for $195,000 hammer in 1999 and got three times for it this time.”
Hays noted, “Christie’s and Sotheby’s represent the marketplace for art, about 98 percent of it worldwide. They provide the mechanism by which people trade and prices are set. We signed up a lot of this sale in early summer, before the change in the economy. My message to consignors is that prices are adjusting and that we are finding a new level. Having said that, there are real havens in the art market. People are bidding on pieces because of their power and their history, because of their appeal to hearts and minds, as the Washington portraits demonstrate.”
Washington material has been hot of late. In November 2008, Skinner auctioned a miniature of Washington by Robert Field for $303,000. Christie’s followed this round with “George Washington at Valley Forge” by Tompkins Harrison Matteson, 1813‸4. It went to a private collector bidding by phone for $314,500, a record at auction for the artist.
Inspired by Edward Savage’s iconic image, “Washington and His Family,” an 1819 oil on canvas tribute to the first family by Bass Otis, drew $32,500.
The roll call of patriots continued with William J. Weaver’s “Portrait of Alexander Hamilton,” $31,250, and Joseph Alexander Ames’ “Portrait of Abraham Lincoln,” $32,500. The earthiest founding father, Benjamin Franklin, might have been amused to see $40,000 for a commode chair from his home.
Furniture
“It is one of the most sculptural five-legged New York card tables,” Leigh Keno said of the muscularly carved and proportioned piece with gadrooned skirt, curvy legs and ball and claw feet that he bought for $254,500 ($100/150,000) against brisk competition. “It was a very fair price. It could have been another 30 percent a few years ago.”
Stripped of its upholstery and riddled with tack holes, evidence of its long upholstery history, a Boston maple easy chair, one of 12 known “sawn cabriole leg” examples, sold to Atlanta dealer Deanne Levison for $218,500. Transitional William and Mary to Queen Anne in style, the Spanish-foot chair resembles another that surfaced at Blackwood/March in October 2008, where it sold to Virginia furniture consultant Luke Beckerdite for $127,650.
Several dozen pieces from a collection built by Joe Kindig & Son of York, Penn., crossed the block. Leading the group was a 1750 Boston Chippendale walnut marble top pier table, $158,500; a pair of Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany side chairs attributed to the Garvan carver, $47,500; and a Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany card table, $32,500 ($10/15,000).
Charleston, S.C., collector Sarah Horton acquired a pair of ebonized and stenciled rosewood card tables, $86,500, with dolphin supports. Horton is on the board of the Charleston Art & Antiques Forum, planned for March 18′2, and is furnishing a Legare Street residence. Attributed to New York City cabinetmakers Deming and Bulkley, New York, the circa 1820 tables were originally in Charleston’s Gibbes-Smith House.
Folk Art
Bound in two volumes, approximately 125 silhouettes from the Wistar and Pennock families of Philadelphia, $50,000 ($10/15,000), were a highlight of the sale’s small folk art section. A paint decorated hanging box, probably from Somerset County, Penn., sold to the phone for $35,000 after spirited bidding in the room.
A terracotta figure of a bloodhound, 52½ inches wide, by Edward Kemeys, called America’s first animal sculptor, was a popular favorite at $27,500, even prompting the online satirical journal Gawker to ask, “Has Christie’s Gone To The Dogs?”
Ex-collection of Olde Hope Antiques, a pair of portraits attributed to John S. Blunt sold to Leigh Keno for $43,750 ($8/12,000). Attributed to Joseph Whiting Stock, two oil on canvas portraits of children fetched $25,000 and $29,375. John and James Bard’s “Paddle Steamboat Rip Van Winkle ” an oil on canvas of the 1840s, made $32,500.
Delftware
Seventeen lots of Dutch and English Delft brought out two of London’s leading pottery dealers, Garry Atkins and Jonathan Horne. Measuring 13¼ inches in diameter, an English Blue-Dash Royal Portrait charger depicting King George I, probably made in London between 1714 and 27, went to Atkins on behalf of a client for $25,000. Made around 1690, a Blue-Dash Royal Equestrian charger depicting King William on horseback sold to Horne for $18,750.
Silver
Coming in just short of $1 million, sales of American silver on January 23, saw interest in Paul Revere and Tiffany & Co. A circa 1780 soup Revere ladle owned by the silversmith and his wife fetched $74,500 from an absentee bidder. A set of eight Revere tablespoons crossed the block at $56,250, selling to private collectors in the room. A circa 1761 tankard by Southampton, N.Y., smith Elias Pelletreau garnered $21,250.
On behalf of Winterthur Museum, Ann K. Wagner acquired a circa 1760 tablespoon by Alexander Petrie of Charleston, S.C., for $3,000. “This is a nice addition to our collection of American silversmith’s marks,” said the curator, who recently co-authored Silversmiths to The Nation: Thomas Fletcher and Sidney Gardiner, 1808‱842 with Donald L. Fennimore.
Tiffany presentation silver included a silver-gilt and ivory tankard, $230,500, and a silver plateau mirror of about 1870, $86,500.
Chinese Export Porcelain
Chinese Export art, including the single-owner auction of porcelain from the collection of Doris and Leo Hodroff, Part III, fetched $2,342,651. The successful sale enjoyed broad international support.
Leading the way was the 179-piece “Priestly Blessing” armorial dinner service, probably made circa 1795 for a wealthy Dutch or Portuguese Jewish family. The service, decorated with a pair of raised hands symbolizing a Hebrew blessing, went to a European private buyer for $278,500, more than double the previous US auction record for a Chinese Export dinner service, according to department head Becky MacGuire.
Failures
The victim of its high reserve, Christie’s cover lot, the Quincy family Boston mahogany Chippendale bombe chest of drawers passed at $1.4 million, having failed to reach its $2/4 million estimate. In January 2003, Sotheby’s auctioned a 1772 Boston ball and claw foot bombe chest of drawers for $1,464,000. Christie’s followed in January 2004 with a Boston or Salem cabriole foot bombe chest of drawers for $2,023,500.
Other passed lots included the Barott family molded copper Indian weathervane ($60/90,000); a Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany desk and bookcase ($120/180,000); a Philadelphia Queen Anne carved and figured walnut desk and bookcase ($120/180,000); a set of seven Philadelphia Chippendale side chairs ($70/100,000); two marble busts of George Washington, one by Thomas Crawford ($80/120,000) and one by Raimondo Trentanove ($30/50,000); a Federal carved walnut bowfront sideboard signed by John Shearer of Martinsburg, Va. ($80/120,000); and eight pieces of Shaker furniture from a private New York collection, estimated from $2/4,000 to $20/30,000.
The market’s inherent inscrutability was confirmed by a miniature Federal chest of drawers, probably made in Pennsylvania around 1800. New York dealer Charles Woolsey Lyon sold the 17-inch-tall cabinet in 1941. It resold in 2002 and again in 2008 for $23,750 ($10/15,000) as part of the Riordan collection. In its latest incarnation, the chest fetched $22,500 ($10/15,000), virtually the same price for a do-over.
Prices include buyer’s premium. For information, 212-492-5485 or www.christies.com .
