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OBJECTS / SCULPTURE:
Here in the Objects / Sculpture Gallery you will find select examples of traditional Americana and American folk art (utilitarian and decorative - e.g. a painted wall box on the former and a curiously altered burl root on the latter). We strive to go beyond the "garden variety" and only offer unique examples that bridge antiques and art. Cast Iron Sun Face Gate Weight
Circa: mid-18thC
Size: 10 1/2"HSublime simplicity - remarkable surface. New England, purportedly Massachusetts. The sun face is an ancient symbol and crosses many cultures - the above may have been associated with a Masonic lodge as the sun (sometimes shown with a face) was key to Masonic imagery..
SOLD
Southern Folk Art Keepsake Box
Circa: 1930
Size: 9 1/2"HFeeling a bit behind the 8 ball? Great billards trade sign - simple, but striking. Black painted solid turned wood sphere with large free hand white painted "8."
Physical Culture / Massages / Shower Sign
Circa: 1915-1925
Size: 47" x 28" x 2 1/8"Great large sign from an old YMCA in Troy Ohio. "Physical Culture" was a phrase popularized by Bernarr Macfadden (the "father of physical fitness") in the early 1900's. The phrase later became "physical education" or just phys-ed.
American Folk Art Walking Stick / Cane - Man With Bow Tie
Circa: 1840
Size: 35" OAHStriking portrait bust of a man with a bow tie - bold features - great eyes, expression and ears! Handle is carved from well figured maple and maintains original alligatored shellac and black painted details. Shaft is cherry and maintains its original length and iron tipped finial. Love how his left ear is carved as a "9."
Pennsylvania Folk Art Chippendale Looking Glass
Circa: 1780
Size: 17 3/8" x 11 5/8"Lyrical line quality and fanciful scrolls. Incredible surface. One of the great folk art mirrors.
African-American Made Andirons
Circa: 1820
Size: 14 3/8" OAHMale and female figures with ridged posturing —communicating power. These diminutive andirons were found in Jackson, Tennessee and are believed to be slave made. The small size would have suitable for a small fireplace or hearth - presently the size is great to present them as important works of African-American art.
Mocha Pepper Pot with Black Ground & Cat Eye Decoration
Circa: 1820-1840
Size: 5" OAHStriking example with cat eyes against a black ground and a cobalt blue top.
IMPORTANT PENNSYLVANIA HEART WALL BOX
Important Lancaster County, PA Wall Box
Circa: 1810
Size: 13" oahAn important wallbox with an exceptional heart shaped backboard and remarkable paint decoration. The reductive heart shape is worked out with a compass (point marks present). The whole body and box is painted with allover stippled roundels. The box is constructed from poplar with an applied over-hanging base. Hand wrought nails. I have not seen a finer wallbox.
Similar decoration is seen on Lancaster County compass work boxes and even Mahantongo Vally chests.
Sign O' The Times
Circa: 1930
Size: 11" x 14" (sight) / 20" x 23" (frame)"BUY NOW BRING BACK PROSPERITY / THIS CARD SOLD BY THE UNEMPLOYED." Great Depression era proclamation with patriotic red/white/blue Art Deco design - the white card stock is screen printed with red images of industry (skyscapers, shipping, automobiles, and factories) and bold blue copy.
SCHOHARIE COUNTY, NY WALL BOX
Circa: 1810
Size: 12 7/8" W x 11" H x 6" DGutsy box! A huge reductive tulip serves as the back board. Overall dark green paint with tulip and vine decoration to the front - the back outlined with a heavy line and dot pattern.
Similar decoration is seen on Schoharie County blanket chests and cupboards, however this is the only wall box that I have seen with this decoration and shaped backboard.
BUST OF JOSEPHINE
Staffordshire bust of Josephine de Beauharnais
Circa: 1800-1810
Size: 12 3/4" OAHA striking canary yellow glazed Staffordshire bust of Josephine de Beauharnais (first wife of Napoleon). Just love that compelling, crazy stare - something is going on behind those eyes! A very rare piece of Staffordshire.
REDWARE HEDGEHOG
Circa: 1840-60
Size: 5 1/4" x 9"A striking and unexpected piece - quite large also. English.
Painted Cast Iron Walking Stick/Cane Trade Sign
Circa: 1860-80
Size: 36" HThis is an unusual object - at first glance one would think it is a carved wooden cane - the end carved in the form of a woman's leg - however upon closer inspection the cane is acually solid iron and cast to simulate a knobby wood shaft and a carved handle. The shaft is painted in a woody yellow and the leg is a dark red with a black boot.
SOLD
American Folk Art Carpenter's Stick
Circa: 1820-40
Size: 42" OALProfusely carved hardwood trade stick with over 60 carved implements relating to the woodworking trade; including a 12" ruler, Jesus upon the cross (he was a carpenter), axe heads, chisels, clamps, planes, compasses, saws, augers, etc....all over a stippled and snow flaked ground. Top capped with pewter. Wood appears to be mahogany. Extraordinary object.
Alonzo Blanchard, Albany New York
George Washington
Circa: 1843
Size: 10" HA first rate rendering of Washington - casting is crisp and refined. Beautiful surface. Fragment of a dumb stove that Blanchard
patented in 1843.
PA FOLK ART CARVING AND ILLUSTRATION
Dated: 1924
Size: 8" W x 2" D x 7" HThis is a really cool piece that presents itself well. Carved and illustrated by "D. W. Fox. Tarr [Station], PA, Jan 21, 1924." One side illustrates a homestead with a large kettle outside, a leaf, a proverb and the (in this case) humorous adage "A chip from the old block." The other side is framed by another proverb and centered by a large leaf.
FOLK ART CARVING - 1888
Massachusetts Folk Art Carving of James McKenna by Alphonso Faneuf
Dated: 1888
Size: 6 1/2" x 4 1/2"A very cool, high relief three-quarter profile carving of a "James A. McKenna by Al[phonso] Faneuf" of North Pond, Orange, Franklin County Massachusetts. Though the carving is straightforward and very well executed, it is an unusual piece of folk art. Quite endearing.
A Google search brought up just one hit of McKenna and Faneuf, "Orange E & J 25 JUL 1902; NORTH POND AS AN OUTING PLACE. ....On the west side we find quite a number, the first one owned by M. M. Johnson, C. D. Lewis and G. M. Underwood, then the place where James A. McKenna and Alphonso Faneuf swap fish stories."
Faux Burl Grain Painted Gameboard
Circa: 1880-1910
Size: 14 3/4" x 14 3/4"A beautifully grain painted gameboard with the ground painted to look like walnut burl. The "live" area of the checkerboard is composed of an apple green and the faux burl (the ground) and outlined in a yellowish-green and black. Backside also fully painted in the faux burl.
FOLK ART SHOE HORN
English or American Shoe Horn
Circa: 1840
Size: 8" OALNeat shoe horn carved with a woman's leg - she has a big calf and a delicate foot. Brass button details to the boot.
SOLD
Acrostic by Phebe Thomas - Plymouth County
Circa: 1835-40
Size: 5 1/4" x 5"An acrostic by Phebe Thomas of Plymouth County, MA, in original, superb tenon and pegged joined red painted frame. An acrostic is a poem whereas the first letter of each line form part of a word or name - here we see PHEBE THOMAS when we read down the verse. Rare - the frame and the acrostic.
A Pair of Scrimshaw Clothespins
Circa: 1840
Size: 5" OALVery good, true pair of scrimshaw clothespins - nice form - great color and surfaces.
CAST IRON FIRE HYDRANT GARDEN / LAWN FIXTURE
Circa: 1930's
Size: 20" HThis is a very cool and unusual item. Great Paint and Surface! Not too big to display indoors (only 20" high). Would make a great gift for your dog.
MINIATURE GRAIN PAINTED CUPBOARD - OH
Circa: 1875-80
Size: 18"W x 21 1/2"H x 10" DeepMade by Christian Sprang for Mary Sprang (b.1873) and painted by Calvin Moore (d. 1887). Great paint with the name MARY SPRANG painted above the cornice and signed by CAL MOORE on the back.
SOLD
Mocha Pepper Pot with Cat Eye Decoration
Circa: 1820-1840
Size: 4 3/8" OAHNice form with tri-color ground and cat eyes encircling the belly.
STEVEN S. POWERS • 360 COURT ST. #28 • BROOKLYN, NY 11231 • 718-625-1715 • email: steve@burlsnuff.com • © 1998-2011
