ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A rare and important “H. Patterson Harris” portrait miniature of General George Washington, completed by Charles Willson Peale (American, 1741-1827) after his 1779 sitting and public commission to honor the “hero of the Philadelphia campaigns” was the top lot at Brunk Auctions March 25-26 sales, bringing $442,800 and selling to a private collector in the United States, bidding by phone, who was underbid by an American institution, also bidding by phone. It is the only known miniature of its kind that has ever been offered at public auction.

Painted in watercolor on ivory, in what was presumed to be its original 18K gold case, the miniature was accompanied by a period leather case lined with silk, a circular 18K gold locket containing a lock of hair purported to be that of Washington, a brass inlaid mahogany studio desk and its assorted contents, and a medallion that reads “CH Peale / to / Coleman Sellers.”

The portrait miniature was published in Charles Coleman Sellers’ Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society and had descended in the family of H. Patterson Harris of Westport, Conn.

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium; a more extensive sale recap will appear in a future issue.