Howard keyhole clock no. 9, $6,325.

NEW YORK CITY — Christie’s American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture sale took place on December 5 with 217 lots offered, 162 lots sold for a total of $39,539,730.

“We are pleased with the results of the sale, which realized the highest total for any various-owner American paintings sale in Christie’s history,” said Eric Widing, senior vice president and head of Christie’s American paintings department. “The economy has added an element of uncertainty which was reflected in the bidding as collectors were selective. The finest and freshest masterworks sold extremely well, such as the magnificent George Bellows from the estate of Eleanor Searle Whitney McCollum and Thomas Moran’s ‘Green River, Wyoming,’ long-held in private collections, which elicited robust prices.”

The top lot was George Bellows’s “Gramercy Park” which was purchased by an American private collector for $3,199,500 ($2/3 million).

Guggenheim-Asher Associates purchased Thomas Moran’s “Green River, Wyoming,” 1878 for $2,924,500 ($1.5/2.5 million). Frederic Remington’s “Scare in a Pack Train” sold for $1,879,500 to a US private buyer ($2/3 million). Thomas Colville Fine Arts LLC purchased “Girl in the Hammock” by Winslow Homer, 1873 for $1,659,500 ($1.5/2.5 million).

Berry-Hill Galleries bought Mary Cassatt’s “Sara Seated, Leaning on Her Left Hand” for $1,659,500 ($2/3 million). Michael Altman bought Edward Hopper’s “Clamdigger” for $1,439,500 ($1.5/2.5 million) and an American private buyer purchased “Golden Light of California” by Albert Bierstadt for $1,329,500 ($1/1.5 million). Goldel & Company purchased “Still Life with Liqueur and Fruit,” 1814 by Raphaelle Peale for $1,021,500 ($800,000/1.2 million) a world auction record for the artist.

A US private buyer won Marsden Hartley’s “Mont Sainte-Victoire” for $944,500 ($1/1.5 million) and Stuart Davis’s “Eggbeater No. 4,” 1928, sold for $889,500 ($500/700,000).