: Sold originally by the artist by lottery, the undeniably
exquisite view of the schooner Charles Carroll in
Portsmouth Harbor by Nineteenth Century Portsmouth painter,
musician, poet and town eccentric Thomas P. Moses realized
$662,500 at Northeast Auctions' record-breaking sale August 21
and 22.
The vessel sits broadside on the river at sunrise against a
background of finely detailed spars. Crew members are visible on
deck and other boats and houses along the shore are visible, also
in fine detail. The picture was inscribed on the reverse, "On the
Piscataqua from the north end of Noble's Bridge/Original. Thos.
P. Moses/Portsmouth, N.H./The Fall of 1875."
The painting had sold at Child's Gallery in Boston and again in
1994 for a hammer price of $190,000 at Sotheby's sale of the
Bertram K. Little and Nina Fletcher Little collection to the
private collector who consigned it. Estimated at $90/150,000, the
picture went to a New England collector. Collectors prevailed and
took some 90 percent of the lots sold.
A second Moses picture of an American ship entering Portsmouth
Harbor near Fort Point, with Portsmouth Harbor light and
Whaleback light in the background, attracted much interest and
sold for $23,000, nearly twice the estimate, to Peter Sawyer.
Carl Crossman had identified the picture as being a Moses work.
Another extraordinary painting was Yeuqua's late 1850s panoramic
and highly detailed early view of colonial Hong Kong and its
harbor that elicited $233,500. The painting measured 141/2 by 60
inches and came from one Massachusetts collector and went to
another.
Ange-Joseph Antoine Roux's watercolor 1803 view of the US Navy
frigate President at Marseille was also of interest and
brought $98,750. It came from a Connecticut estate and sold to a
collector. An early view of the hongs at Canton made before 1803
by an artist in the circle of Spoilum fetched $97,750.
Yeuqua's late 1850s panoramic painting of colonial Hong Kong
and its harbor, $233,500.
Yet another exquisite China Trade view, this one of the bund
at Shanghai, was beautifully and meticulously delineated and sold
for $87,750, and a China Trade view of the hongs at Canton brought
$65,450. An oil on-canvas view of two beached sailboats by Lynn
Beach painter Charles Edwin Lewis Green captured bidders' interest
and sold to a mid-Atlantic collector for a record $72,900.
A pair of snow scenes of Fifth Avenue in New York City by Johann
Berthelsen realized $24,150.
Portsmouth pieces are a perennial favorite at Northeast sales,
and a fine pair of Portsmouth Mechanic Society red fire buckets
decorated with eagles by John S. Blunt was $23,000. They came
from an area consignor and sold to a folk art dealer. An Emile
Gruppe view of Strawbery Banke, which is just around the corner
from Northeast, brought $11,150.
A selection of Antonio Jacobsen paintings deaccessioned by The
Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va., brought prices well above
the estimates from dealers and collectors. An 1891 view of the
tug E. Heipershausen brought $63,120 against its estimated
$5,5/7,500; a signed and dated 1903 view of the Lewis
Pulver was estimated at $5/8,000 and brought $33,350; an 1880
view of the paddle wheeler Armenia fetched $24,150 against
its estimated $1,5/2,500. Jacobsen's rendering of the
Umbria went to $29,900 against its estimated $4/6,000, and
an 1892 view of the Venezuela brought $19,550.
The sale was chockablock with really fine offerings. An
extraordinary mahogany and ebony double swift with fanciful
whalebone and abalone inlay drew $118,000 from a private
collector after what auctioneer Ronald Bourgeault termed "a
passionate competition." Family lore held that the swift was made
by Captain Joseph K. Green, master of the New Bedford whaler
Susan. It was tied with what were presumed to be the
original red and blue ribbons.
A pair of sperm whale teeth with polychrome decorations of
liberty on one and justice on the other also came from the
Captain Green estate and sold to a collector for $54,625. Family
tradition also held that Captain Green made the mahogany knife
box with inlaid five-point stars, vines and leaves that sold for
$13,800.
A Chinese export porcelain punch bowl decorated elaborately with
hunt scenes and bearing the owner's monogram SB realized $34,255.
The bowl was brought from China for Samuel Breck in 1785 aboard
the Boston merchant ship Empress of China, the first
American vessel to trade at Canton. The ship set sail from New
York on George Washington's birthday in 1784 under the command of
one Captain John Green.
Double swift made by Captain Joseph K. Green, $118,000.
Twentieth Century paintings and sculpture from the estate of
Henry Burr of Essex, Conn., represented a new departure for
Northeast. "The Happy Lion" Bernard Langlais' painted wood relief
drew significant interest and brought $10,875, while the beautiful
1964 abstract "Drift Past Shoals" by Reuben Tam brought $7,188
against an estimated $1,500/2,000, and Charles H. Woodbury's Maine
view "Perkins Cove Fishermen" realized $9,775 against an estimate
of $950/1,250.
A pair of Sheraton giltwood mirrors with eglomise panels
featuring sailing ships was $27,600 and a China Trade carved
rosewood and cane sofa in the Regency style drew $13,800.
Among a selection of fine creamware the most favored was a
Liverpool jug with a transfer image of a lighthouse and signal
flags identified as "Signals at Portland Observatory" that
brought $20,275.
A first octavo edition of Audubon's Birds of America that
Audubon published in New York between 1840 and 1844 concurrently
with the Philadelphia publication by J.B. Chevalier sold for
$72,900. A Havel engraving elephant folio engraving of Audubon's
yellow-billed magpie, the Stellars jay, the ultramarine jay and
Clark's crow sold for $7,130.
An early, engraved Order of the Society of the Cincinnati signed
by George Washington at Mount Vernon October 31, 1785, and
countersigned by Henry Knox, was a resounding $21,275.
Three full-bodied duck decoys in black with tack eyes were all
found in Iowa and sold for $14,375. Another lot of decoys
included three black ducks with glass eyes and three with tack
eyes sold for $12,225.
Prices reported include 15 percent buyer's premium.
