In the February 15 sale at Skinner, this Robert Field portrait miniature of George Washington, watercolor on ivory, circa 1801, signed and dated RF 1801 lower right, handily surpassed its $150/200,000 estimate to bring $336,000.
:George Washington prevailed on Presidents' Day weekend here where a miniature watercolor on ivory portrait of the president painted by Robert Field in 1801 brought $336,000 at Skinner's Americana sale on February 15. The image is one of two of the president in full military dress commissioned after his death by Martha Washington as mementos for family members. The other image of Washington in uniform sold at Skinner in November 2008 for $303,000 and went to the Yale University Art Gallery.
A neoclassical French ormolu mantel clock depicting Washington in full military dress made by Jean-Baptiste Dubuc in Paris in 1810 sold for $112,575. The clock was presented to Ralston Lovell Gould, Chamberlain of New York City just after 1900.
A Federal banjo clock by Simon Willard, circa 1805, had no Washington provenance but still managed to bring $130,350.
A full report of the sale will appear in a future edition.
—Frances M. Mascolo
