Undiscovered 'Moonlight' Shines At Northeast Auction

MANCHESTER, N.H.

:Moonlight magic prevailed at Northeast Auctions' recent sale as the previously unknown Fitz Henry Lane painting "Moonlight, Owl's Head, Northeast View, 1851" sold for $913,500. The oil on board measured 12 by 181/4 inches and went to a dealer in the back of the room who was bidding for a client.

The normally loquacious Ronald Bourgeault would only say after the sale that the painting will remain in New England. He did note that the painting will be included in the forthcoming book on Lane, F.H. Lane: An Artist's Voyage through Nineteenth Century America by James A. Craig, which will be published in late May by The History Press in Charleston, S.C.

Craig, who is associate curator of collections at the Cape Ann Historical Association, helped authenticate the picture and said he thought it had been in an attic for some time, given its fine coat of dust and some slight warpage. Nonetheless he pronounced it in wonderful condition.

Penobscot Bay in Maine was a favorite spot of Lane's, who first visited there with the family of his good friend Joseph L. Stevens of Castine, Maine, who worked in a family business in Gloucester. Lane made a sketch of the family's favorite view of Owl's Head and when he returned to Gloucester he created the painting and presented it to the Stevens family as a thank-you present.

It was inscribed on the back "Mrs J. L. Stevens." The sketch from which it was painted, along with five other paintings that Lane later gave Stevens, was donated by Stevens' children to the Cape Ann Historical Association. It was Stevens who organized Lane's drawings noting the places and dates they were made and which paintings were created from them. It was also Stevens who would row Lane around Gloucester harbor so he could sketch the ships at anchor. So close was Lane to the Stevens family that he is buried in their family plot in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Gloucester.

A historic oil on linen of the Liberty Tree in Boston brought $182,000 after an intense bidding war between two phones. A notice was attached to the tree trunk announcing, "Meeting, 12 o'clk, Liberty Tree" and the tree was hung with teapots. Two colonial women were pictured force-feeding tea to a red-coated Englishman.

A richly colored and hooked rug was handsome with whimsical flowers, fruit and leaves on an abstract and multicolored ground and drew $6,380. It came from the same collection as the Liberty Tree painting.

Another object of intense desire was the 1861 oil on canvas "Landscape with Mountain Lake" by the Connecticut-born John S. Jameson that sold for a record price of $154,500 against the estimated $5/8,000. It sold on the phone after an exceptional contest.

Other paintings enticed strong bidding. Benjamin Champney's 1857 "View in the White Mountains with Lake" was a strong $32,480. Bidding on John Joseph Enneking's signed "Trout Brook" opened at $11,000 and swam easily to $28,880. A small (8 by 6 inches) oil on canvas by Ralph Albert Blakelock sat in a Carrig-Rohane frame dated 1917 and sold for $12,760.

A beautifully and colorfully painted candle box from the Spruance family of Delaware was certainly a contender for the title of most charming object in the sale. Bidding opened just below the estimate at $28,000 and ended only when it sold for $103,980. The box measured 6 by 12 by 6 inches and had a compartmented drawer. The box was accompanied by a 12-candle mold, also from the Spruance family. An unnamed New York auction house had been offered the opportunity to sell the box but passed on it and returned it to the consignor.

The same buyer also bought the Spruance family Holy Bible, a 1798 first edition printed for John Thompson & Abraham Small, for $1,044 and an 1829 sampler wrought by Mary Spruance with the alphabet and a pious verse and a sprig with berries for $580.

A graphically compelling pieced and appliquéd Baltimore album quilt made a lot of eyes dance with its vivid patriotic imagery and sold for $58,000. The quilt was pieced in such a way as to be readable from all four sides and was alive with images of sailing ships, soldiers, cannon and the American flag.

A Scottish collector was determined to have the "Portrait of John Home" by her countryman, several centuries removed, Sir Henry Raeburn, RA. She flew from Scotland to Boston, drove to New Hampshire to examine the painting, returned to Boston and flew back to Scotland all in slightly over one day. She bought the picture on the phone for $58,000.

A 46-inch-tall leaping reindeer made in about 1895 by Gustav Dentzel was carved realistically and sold for $33,640. The figure had eight-point antlers and was one of four made to draw Santa's sleigh in a Christmas display at Macy's in New York. Two photographs of Santa in a sleigh driving the four reindeer accompanied the lot.

The branches of an American wood folk art tree were laden with carved and brightly painted birds and sold for $24,360. The 74-inch tree was thought to have been made in Vermont and it offered shelter to a cardinal, a blue jay and a finch or two among others.

A spirited full-bodied copper leaping stag weathervane with sheet copper antlers was painted beige with black hooves and sold for $18,560, while a fanciful American two-light candlestand in steel and iron was beautifully sculptural and sold for $11,600.

A couple of barber poles that Norman Rockwell used as props in several paintings were 35 inches long and painted in red, white and blue and had acorn terminals. They sold for $6,032. A lot of six treen plates, four bowls of varying sizes, three vessels, a scoop and a spoon brought $9,876. A six-inch burl wood footed compote fetched $8,700.

A set of four Massachusetts Queen Anne mahogany side chairs with balloon seats and vasiform backs on stepped shoes sold for $55,680. The chairs were deaccessioned from an unidentified museum.

Other Queen Anne side chairs were also of interest: a pair of Massachusetts Queen Anne mahogany side chairs from Boston or Salem had distinctive rear legs typically seen in Salem and sold for $10,440.

A pair of New York Queen Anne side chairs with trapezoidal rush seats and attributed to the Dominy workshop, along with a set of six New York side chairs, brought $6,032.

Bidding on a New England William and Mary side chair in cherry and maple with Spanish feet opened at an above estimate $3,000 and went to $12,760. As he hammered it down, Bourgeault noted, "Back to Portsmouth."

An early American high-back pine settle in red wash that was made in the New Haven colony with a hat shelf brought $12,760 and a 72-inch New England Federal pine step back spice cabinet in red paint realized $10,440.

An assembled set of five banister back side chairs each with a pierced heart in the crest and sausage turned legs sold for $19,720. One bore a silvered disk that was inscribed "NSM 1740."

A Queen Anne walnut and birch tea table by Samuel Sewall of York, Maine, brought $17,400. The table came from the Saywood family.

A Connecticut Queen Anne cherry bonnet-top highboy from around Hartford sold in the room for $46,400 while another example from the Stonington area carved with a convex shell fetched $25,520. A Portsmouth Queen Anne tiger maple highboy with a carved shell realized $29,000.

A Massachusetts Sheraton mahogany sideboard attributed to William Hook was a manageable 53 inches across the top and sold for $17,400.

A pair of English George II carved giltwood mirrors had shaped mirrors with four shelves and a central support and sold for $25,520. A New York Federal giltwood and eglomise mirror topped with an eagle holding a beaded chain had plenty of bells and whistles and sold for $16,820.

A Federal giltwood pier mirror with an eglomise panel bore the label of Barnard and Cermenati of Newburyport and brought $6,380.

An English George III pine fireplace surround with faux marble was nicely carved and sold for $9,570.

An elegant Empire gilt-metal can cut glass, six-light chandelier was 48 inches tall and sold for $33,640.

An Aaron Willard Federal tall case clock in mahogany with fan inlay had an enameled dial signed "Aaron Willard" and sold for $18,560. New Hampshire clocks were equally interesting. A New England Chippendale cherry tall case clock with cutout hearts and brass works by David Blaisdell was said to be from Chester, N.H., and brought $17,400.

A Portsmouth or Hampton Federal cherry tall clock with lively inlay and an open work crest with a leaf and vine design sold for $13,920. According to family history, the clock stood in a house where John Greenleaf Whittier visited and eventually died. A New Hampshire mahogany tall case clock attributed to the Abel Hutchins workshop had interesting bird's-eye maple embellishments and sold for $7,830.

A nine-inch American silver tablespoon by Paul Revere of Boston opened at $4,500 and sold for $10,440. The spoon was marked Revere and engraved with the monogram "JSD" probably for Jennie S. Dunbar.

Objects deaccessioned from Colonial Williamsburg were impressive - and large. A pine paneled library from the Jacobean house Mount Mascal in Bexley, Kent., sold for $34,800. The library included a carved mantel, crown molding, window seats and six bookcases and measured 13 feet 4 inches by 9 feet 10 inches. The house was demolished in 1959 and the library came to Williamsburg. A carved pine mantel from the George Wythe house sold for $5,560.

A lot of Chinese wallpaper panels that were hand painted with peacocklike birds, fanciful rocks and blossoming trees went for $17,400.

Two handsome English mahogany and glass bow front lanterns, one of which was a corner lantern, sold for $13,920. Two sturdy brassbound plate carriers that were 14 inches in diameter brought a more than respectable $4,060 and a George III carved pine corner cupboard carved with shells and leaf tips, and with flowers in the manner of Grinling Gibbons, drew $9,570.

All prices quoted reflect the buyer's premium. For information, call www.northeastauctions.com or 603-433-8400.