Gray's Auctioneers Fine Art, Furniture and Decorations auction on September 27 will feature the sale of property from the personal collection of Cleveland luminaries Maxeen and John Flower.

Maxeen and John Flower travelled extensively and built a massive collection over a period of fifty years.

The proceeds from the sale of the collection will benefit the Cleveland Institute of Art, Maxeen Stone Flower's alma mater.

Highlights from the collection include lot 126, the largest John Koch painting to come up at auction. 'The Party' (also known as Summer Party) is a magnificent oil on canvas with a simple gold leaf wood frame measuring 48 inches high by 60 inches wide.

It was exhibited at the New York Historical Society in the show entitled John Koch: Painting a New York Life, October 16, 2001-January 27, 2002.

'The Party' is the largest John Koch painting to come up at auction

It is also featured in the book sold to accompany the show, published in 2001 by Scala Publishers Ltd.

Painted in 1971, 'The Party' depicts the artist with several of his friends including his gallerist Antoinette Kraushaar, his wife Dora, artists, musicians and actors together with Mrs Kenneth Spencer, whose portrait Koch painted the same year.

At once formal and elegant the painting captures the essence of mid 20th century New York's bohemian creative life, always jaded but nonetheless passionately engaged.

The collection also  includes an extensive array of Chinese, Japanese and Indian decorations as well as antique furniture, paintings from well known artists and other lesser known artists, together with rugs, carpets and tapestries all of which were displayed throughout the collectors' Shaker Heights home.

Now, the rare treasures which once beguiled many a dinner party guest at Maxeen and John Flower's residence can be enjoyed by a new set of collectors at Gray's sale in Cleveland, Ohio, US.