NEW YORK CITY — After an intense bidding battle that began at $480,000, Ammi Phillips’ (1788-1865) iconic “Woman with Pink Ribbons” sold to a buyer in Christie’s salesroom for $3,870,000. The work was the cover lot for the single-owner Collection of Peter & Barbara Goodman, which was offered on January 20. Not only did the result surpass its presale estimate of $800,000-1,200,000, but it shattered the artist’s previous auction record of $1,692,500, a price Christie’s realized in 2019 for “Girl in a Red Dress with a Dog.” The 137-lot sale, which tallied $10,852,875, saw other artist’s records fall, including those for John Brewster Jr, Samuel Addison Shute, Jacob Maentel and Thomas Chambers.

Another $7,876,688 was realized during two sessions and nearly 270 lots of American silver, prints, marine art, manuscript, furniture and decorative art, and folk art that crossed the block January 20-21 and was led by an oil on panel portrait of George Washington done in 1820 by Gilbert Stuart. Offered on behalf of the Saint Louis Art Museum to benefit the acquisitions fund, it sold for $930,000.

When combined with the $4,967,375 achieved with Nineteenth Century American Art offered January 19, Christie’s Americana Week witnessed interest and activity to the tune of $23,696,938.

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. A more extensive recap of all Americana Week sales will appear in a future issue.