Maine Antique Digest, April 2017

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Maine Antique Digest, April 2017 29-A
- AUCTION -
29-A
Rerus Imperator” (reminding the owner that time
is “commander of all things”) in a cherrywood
case by John Head, circa 1740. Most clock cases
by Head are walnut, a nicely workable wood.
This one in a more expensive cherry case sold
to advisor Luke Beckerdite in the salesroom for
$348,500 (est. $150,000/300,000). It was the
second item by John Head sold at Sotheby’s
during Americana Week, and it made a record
price for any piece by Head. The identification
history of John Head was not known when the
Smith or Parker collections were formed. (See the
March issue of M.A.D., p. 32-E, for coverage of
the sale of the collection of George S. Parker II.)
The Smiths’ large (94½" long) double-
peak camelback sofa with its dramatic swept-
back arms is one of the finest of all surviving
Philadelphia sofas, and its Marlborough legs
are intact. It sold to a discerning collector in the
salesroom for $212,500 (est. $250,000/500,000).
A less dramatic, somewhat smaller matching sofa
with its central stretcher and blocking on its feet
replaced failed to sell.
Museums did some buying this January. At
the Smith sale Alexandra Kirtley, curator of
American furniture at the Philadelphia Museum
of Art, spent $137,500 (est. $100,000/200,000)
for a Queen Anne mahogany tray-top tea table
with scrolls flanking its carved knees and candle
slides, made in Boston circa 1755. Peggy Smith
had inherited it from her mother.
The big disappointment at the Smith salewas the
failure of Penn’s Treatywith the Indians byEdward
Hicks. Estimated at $800,000/1,200,000, it stirred
no interest, perhaps because of its condition. It
had been found rolled up and was extensively
restored before it sold at Christie’s in January
1993 for $671,000 (est. $500,000/700,000). It is
a good subject, an appealing composition, and
captioned on the canvas “PENN’S Treaty with
the INDIANS, made 1681 with / out an Oath, and
never broken. The foundation of / Religious and
Civil Liberty in the U.S. of America.” Hicks more
often titled his paintings on the frames.
Several marine paintings sold over or toward
high estimates. James Buttersworth’s Racing
in New York Harbor (Fetching the Mark),
painted circa 1875, sold for $300,000 (est.
$250,000/350,000) to an absentee bidder. New
York City dealer W. Graham Arader, standing at
the back of the salesroom, paid $225,000 for Battle
at the Palisades, New York by Dominic Serres.
Arader said he had wanted it when Newbold Smith
bought it at Sotheby’s in London in 1995, when it
sold for £67,500. “It shows the exact spot of the
George Washington Bridge,” saidArader, who was
clearly pleased with his purchase. Serres painted
His Majesty’s ships Phoenix, Roebuck, and Tartar,
accompanied by three smaller vessels, forcing their
way through the cheval-de-frise on the Hudson
River between Forts Washington and Lee, New
York, on October 9, 1776.
The sale of 82 of the 89 lots brought a total
of $3,386,188 (92.1% sold by lot).The pictures
and captions tell more. For a priced catalog, see
) and look for auction results
or call the department at (212) 606-7130.
The Shoemaker-Pickering-Doughton family
Chippendale carved and mahogany games
table was possibly made in the shop of
Jonathan Shoemaker, and the carving is
attributed to Richard Butts of Philadelphia,
circa 1770. The 28" x 31½" x 15" table
retains a dark, rich historic surface and
appears to retain its original ornate cast
brass hardware. It sold in the salesroom
to Skip Chalfant of H.L. Chalfant, West
Chester, Pennsylvania, for $47,500 (est.
$40,000/60,000), underbid on the phone.
This circa 1750 Queen Anne
figured walnut spice chest-on-
frame, Chester County,
Pennsylvania, has an inscription
carved later on the top of the
lower case, “THIS BELONGED
/ AT.” The 32" x 19" x 12"
chest sold for $16,250 (est.
$6000/12,000) to Skip Chalfant
of H.L. Chalfant, West Chester,
Pennsylvania, who said he
thought he got a good buy,
perhaps because parts of three
of the feet are restored.
This pair of circa 1770 Chippendale
carved mahogany “six-shell” Philadelphia side
chairs, one marked II and the other III to both
the seat rail and the slip seat, height 40", sold to
dealer Skip Chalfant in the salesroom for $35,000
(est. $5000/10,000). Chalfant said he bought three
pairs of Philadelphia side chairs during the week,
for clients and for stock.
Dominic Serres, R.A. (1722-1793) was commissioned by a participant
of the Battle of the Palisades, New York, to paint this 25" x 47 7/8" scene
of the 1776 battle. Serres did so in 1779. It shows His Majesty’s ships
Phoenix , Roebuck, and Tartar, accompanied by three smaller vessels,
forcing their way through the cheval-de-frise on the Hudson River
between Forts Washington and Lee on October 9, 1776. The painting is
signed “D. Serres” and dated 1779 (lower left). It is also inscribed “His
Majesty’s Ships / 40 guns / the ‘Roebuck’ 40 guns /the Tartar 28... guns
/ passing Fort Washington / going up the Hudson River / to prevent the
Americans / throwing supplies into / the fort. Oct 1776 / Robert Barlow
/...one of officers / of Tartar /...R Barlow” on the frame. The painting
sold for $225,000 (est. $100,000/150,000) to New York City dealer W.
Graham Arader in the salesroom. Arader said he had missed the sale by
a day and regretted not buying it in 1995 when Newbold Smith bought
it at Sotheby’s in London for £67,500. According to the catalog, after it
was commissioned by Robert Barlow, it descended in his family until
acquired by Newbold Smith. Early during the Revolutionary War in
1776, General Howe ordered a small squadron of British warships,
under the command of Captain Hyde Parker, to occupy the Hudson
River. Despite heavy bombardment from Fort Washington on the right
and Fort Lee atop the New Jersey Palisades, Captain Parker and his
fleet passed through, and he was knighted for his heroic efforts in 1779.
This circa 1755 Boston Queen Anne mahogany
tray-top tea table bears a small paper label with
typed inscription “ S.L63.14 / Mrs. du Pont,
broken at skirt one leg and leg square replaced.”
The 27¼" x 29¾" x 20½" table sold for
$137,500 (est. $100/000/200,000) to Alexandra
Kirtley, curator of American furniture at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art and bidding for
the museum, underbid by dealer Skip Chalfant.
Kirtley said, “We have so little New England
furniture.” The table had been shown at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1963 in James
Biddle’s exhibition American Art from American
Collections. The sale catalog calls this table the
most sophisticated form of Queen Anne tea table
in Boston from about 1740 to the Revolution.
It is one a small group of tea tables fitted with
candle slides. In 2006 at the sale of the Bernstein
collection, Sotheby’s sold a Boston tea table
of similar design but without candle slides for
$497,600 (est. $400,000/600,000). Frank Levy
of Bernard & S. Dean Levy, New York City,
sold another with candle slides at the Winter
Antiques Show; it was priced at $425,000.
This rare Chippendale carved mahogany
compass-seat easy chair, Philadelphia,
circa 1765, sold in the salesroom for
$106,250 (est. $88,000/120,000) to
Delaware dealer James Kilvington for
a client. The legs have a dark rich
surface; two knee returns were
replaced. The chair’s height is 45¾".
This circa 1770 Philadelphia Chippendale
mahogany double-peak camelback sofa,
40¾" x 94¼" x 35", sold for $212,500 (est.
$250,000/500,000) to collector Steve Smith
in the salesroom. A combined effort of a
cabinetmaker and upholsterer, the camelback
form is listed as “Soffas Marlborough Feet”
in the 1772 and 1786 Philadelphia price list,
with the additional refinement of “bases”
terminating the feet. The frame with “plain
feet & rails without Casters” would have
cost £4.10 in mahogany, with the upholstery
adding as much as £10 to £20 to the cost.
Equal in price to a desk/bookcase, sofas of this
type were extremely costly and not common
in Philadelphia, even among affluent families.
A similar sofa, not shown, 40" x 97¼" x
32½", with a Joe Kindig provenance and with
a replaced central stretcher and replaced
blocking on its feet and a less dramatic sweep
to the arms, failed to sell (est. $40,000/60,000).