Sotheby's to Sell Property of Rear Admiral Edward P. Moore This Fall

Tuesday, 05 August 2008 00:28

NEW YORK City - This fall, Sotheby’s will offer Property of Rear Admiral Edward P. Moore and Barbara Bingham Moore, the esteemed, late Washington D.C. collectors, in a single-owner sale on September 26, 2008, as the centerpiece of its September 2008 Americana Week in New York. The sale, which is expected to bring in the region of $7 million, will feature one of the most important groups of early American Furniture ever to appear at auction and an extraordinary early and vibrant example of Edward Hicks’ Peaceable Kingdom (est. $2/3 million).

Leslie Keno, Senior Vice President and Director of Sotheby’s American Furniture and Decorative Arts department, said: “Mr. and Mrs. Moore assembled, quite simply, one of the most important groups of furniture that we have ever seen. Many of the pieces retain a wonderful old patina. The quality of the collection attests to their discerning collecting eye and is a testament to their highly refined taste. The collection includes many masterpieces from the major colonial cabinetmaking centers, including Boston, Salem, Newport, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York.”

Certainly one of the stars of the collection is the Important Reginald Lewis Queen Anne Compass-Seat Stool, which is to our knowledge the only Queen Anne example of its type in the world (est. $200/500,000). Its strong yet delicate cabriole legs perfectly compliment the serpentine sides of the seat. The fact that this was offered in the prestigious Reginald M. Lewis Collection sale here at Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc. in 1961 adds desirable provenance that will draw collectors, dealers and museum representatives alike competing to own it. Certainly one of the greatest strengths of the Moore Collection of American furniture is the Philadelphia furniture, particularly the seating furniture.

The sale will also include a selection of works by American landscape and maritime painter Thomas Chambers, the highlight of which is Packet Ship “George Washington” Entering New York Harbour (est. $60/80,000). Depictions of Tarrytown (est. $30/50,000) and View of New York from Gowanus Heights, Brooklyn (est. $30/40,000) will also be included along with two works featuring the Delaware Water Gap, View Along the Delaware River with the Water Gap and View of Delaware Water Gap, both estimated at $20/30,000. Concurrently, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be mounting the first ever retrospective dedicated to Chambers’ bold work and his influential role in the development of landscape and maritime art in mid-nineteenth century America.

The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks, circa 1829-1830, is an extraordinary early and vibrant example of the subject that would continue to fascinate and engage Hicks for forty years of his professional life as a painter and as a Quaker clergyman (est. $2/3 million). Based on the biblical prophecy of Isaiah (11:6-9), the Peaceable Kingdoms became for Hicks his most potent and effective ‘sermon’ on the Quaker doctrines of peace, reconciliation and spiritual life and light. At this early point in Hicks’ career as a visual theologian and preacher, the subject had particular significance for him. It was painted at the time that his friend and mentor Elias Hicks of Long Island, New York (Hicksville, New York is named for him), had recently died initiating a period of transition within the Quaker clergy. To memorialize Elias and others of his group of founders, Hicks has positioned the group of elder statesmen wrapped within banners articulating the Quaker legacies of Peace on Earth and Good Will Towards Men. This is a rare formulation of this subject for Edward Hicks, but speaks to his sense of continuity within the Quaker movement and the durability of its values. The subject, depicting the lion and the lamb and the little child who led them, also spoke to the values of the young American republic as it became established under the new Jacksonian democracy.

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