Description:
Found in Ashley Attic. Possibly made by Harris & Co., Boston, Massachusetts. This cow is similar to the cow weathervane illustrated on page 154 of the book “The Art of the Weathervane”, by Steve Miller, taken from the Harris & Co. catalogue. Large three-dimensional figure of a full body cow used as a weathervane; cow is made out of sheet copper soldered together by lead, there is a seam that forms the body of the cow going under and at the top of the animal, the legs, utter, head, ears and horns are soldered on separately. The teats on the utter are very spikey. There are no markings for any maker. The surface of the cow was originally gilded, original surface gilding can be seen on the utters and underside of the cow, possible yellow sizing, in general the cow has a mottled green verdigris patina, the ears and horns appear to be made of iron since they are rusting heavily, several bullet holes have been patched using lead solder. Tail is broken at joint. A cow weathervane is illustrated on the top of the Thomas Wells cow house/barn on an 1855 map of Deerfield.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2017.800 |
