Description:
All over America in the latter decades of the nineteenth century, roof-topping copper sculptures were in demand. Josephus Harris and his son Ansel J. Harris established a weathervane and ornamental ironwork business in Boston in 1868. Their "Boston Weather Vanes" became the principal New England competition for Cushing and White of Waltham, MA. Harris issued two catalogues (1875, 1879) of his wares in order to appeal to a broad market. Copper weathervane covered with a green patina, which was once on top of the Deerfield Fire Station; it depicts a seated and helmeted fireman on a fire wagon or hose cart driving a runing horse. The fireman, whose legs extend over the rear of the horse, is holding two reins attached to the horse' s bridle. There are two shafts extending from the wagon along the sides of the horse. The horse has all four legs extended, with a front and rear leg connected with small rods to the thick horizontal rod running the full length of the weathervane. Stamped on the side of the horse's shoulder is "A. J. HARRIS & Co." The horse's main support is a thick rod running from its underbelly to the horizontal rod. The spoked hose holder (the spokes are connected with a continous thin wire) behind the firemen is ribbed; and has a five-pointed star on each side over the arched horizontal rods connected to the small boxes under the driver and behind the hose holder. The boxes are also connected to the wheel rods with oval shaped supports. There are four wheels, each with 12 spokes, connected at the base with small rods to the long horizontal support rod.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2000.800 |
