Description: "Tilton Bennet," attributed to Hugh Tolford (w. 1770-1772), Chester, New Hampshire. No published record for Tilton Bennet exists but he was probably a member of a local militia company. The records and published histories of Chester,N.H., list only one resident who might be a carver. Hugh Tolford (born 1747- alive 1794) was of Scotch-Irish descent and may have served in the militia during this period. This horn is profusely decorated with wonderfully imaginative animals. The detailed and realistic depictions form many odd vignettes: one character plays a fiddle for a donkey, another is seated in a chariot drawn by two mules. And there are also birds perched in trees with tentacle-like branches; a turtle with a snake in its jaws; a deer with a nursing fawn; animals standig on pedestals as if they were statues of perhaps stuffed, including an unusual geometric horse.
Tags: military Link to share this object record: https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2005.20.42 |