Oil on canvas. Signed and dated 'R.S. 1804' (lower right). The featured ship is the Alfred, shown in three positions, thought to be off the Mersey, Liverpool.

This remarkable depiction of the surface of the full moon in oil is the work of Julius Grimm (1842-1906), scientific photographer and Hofphotograph (court photographer) to the Baden court, and was presented to Grand Duke Friedrich I von Baden in 1888. Grimm knew of the Grand Duke's fascination with astronomy and was granted an audience with Friedrich in November 1887, during which Grimm's photographs of the moon were discussed. Soon, Grimm embarked on an ambitious project to produce an oil painting of the moon, based on his photographs, to be presented to the Grand Duke. Grimm's representation features an arrow to the left of the moon, which indicates the direction of illumination adopted by Grimm. The shadowed surface would have been based on photographs of the different phases of the moon, when shadows do occur, as well the model-making technique that Grimm also adopted.

Of pencil and watercolor.

The present drawing represents a sophisticated perspectival study of an imaginary classical interior. The architect Gustav Friedrich Hetsch, whose signature is on the reverse of the picture, was for almost fifty years of the nineteenth century an eminent teacher and theorist at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, exercising considerable influence over the cultural life of Denmark. In 1822 Hetsch was appointed Professor of Perspective, becoming Professor of Architecture in 1829, it seems likely that the present picture was an aid for the studies of perspective undertaken at the academy under Hetsch’s tutelage.

Of pine with painted marbleized decoration. The model of a three storey building six bays square, the first two storeys articulated with a giant Doric order of painted marbleized decoration supporting a plain entablature, the upper storey with a Doric order of painted marbleised decoration below a balustrade, the building set to front and reverse with two storey pedimented portico doorway of double bay width with paired columns, the double doors below a fanlight, the arched window openings of each storey with columns, those of the upper two storeys with curved balconies, the sides with two storey doors of double bay width below a fanlight to either end, the building surmounted by a three tier cupola dome terminating in a ball finial, each tier with Doric colonnade, the first two tiers with balustrade.

Of mahogany. The oval wine cooler with upholstered top opening to a divided interior, set to the side with paired faux ring handles, centred to the front with mask of Jupiter, the whole raised on two outswept plinth feet.

The present pair of knife boxes belong to a tradition of decorative cutlery cases made in the late Federal period. Before silver drawers were incorporated into sideboards, knife boxes were meant to sit atop staple dining room furniture singularly or in pairs. These cases were chiefly made of mahogany, which became the favorite primary wood used in furniture after its introduction in the colonies. Although no overtly similar pieces have been located, making comparative interpretation problematic, the overall design, certain decorative elements, and acquisition history in Baltimore (along with a pair of card tables which are most certainly of Baltimore origin), suggest the origin of the knife boxes. Furthermore, the secondary woods of poplar and white pine, although not exclusionary, support the attribution.

Of limewood with original green-painted and faux porphyry decoration. Each surmounted by a circular gadrooned top above a shaped stem with reeded central section and anthemion decoration raised on four winged female figures and a pylon shaped faux porphyry base decorated to each side with a wreath and crossed poles with acorn finials, the whole raised on four bold paw feet and a square faux porphyry plinth with canted corners. These exceptionally sophisticated pair of torcheres are identical to a single example in the Victoria and Albert Museum. They originally formed part of the collection of the Earl of Lascelles, at the great Yorkshire mansion, Harewood House, built between 1759 and 1771 by a combination of the architects John Carr and Robert Adam.

Of gilt brass. The corona cast with lotus leaves above a canopy of acanthus leaves, the body, suspended on five supports, each with acanthine decoration, the five foliate arms, each arm terminating in a foliate drip-pan and nozzle, the whole centered by five oil reservoirs, each in the form of a Grecian urn, the whole terminating below in a lotus leaf final.

Of gilt bronze. Each in the form of a trophy surmounted by a stylized foliate paterae, composed of flowers foliage and instruments of music, agriculture and the hunt, each issuing four curving arms with scrolling foliate decoration terminating in foliate drip pans and stiff-leaf nozzles. Marked to the reverse with a C inside a lozenge.