While I do have to fall in love with everything I buy in one way or another, there are occasional things I buy first and foremost for myself, and this is one of those, which I regard as the most special thing I found at Brimfield--purchased from Stephen Corrigan (Stephen-Douglas) who I regard as having the most good and special things around. As I am in the business of selling, and do like to share, I am offering it up, but will be very happy to live with it for a while or forever.
Stephen believed it American, and I believe he is right--in part due to the "primitive" manner of the embroidery (those wonderful feet!), executed in hand-dyed thread on laid paper, and a note taped to the reverse that identifies it as having been "Daniel Ladd's in remembrance on Sally Sanborn deceased 1802," with a little research turning up intertwined Ladds and Sandborns in New Hampshire at that time, including both a Daniel and at least one Sally.
Photos don't capture how special it feels in hand--more subtle than flashy for sure, and terrifically intimate, with this bird feeling to me wonderful combination of bold and tender, proud and serene, and also--perhaps especially in the stripes of the wing and tail feathers, and manner of its perch on that base--making me think of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic drawings of falcons. The frame itself is surprisingly light, and charmingly a bit off square, and holds its original early wavy glass, which is thin with striations running mostly vertically. (Honestly it feels like perhaps the earliest piece of glass I've found still held in a frame.) Definitely infused with the spirit of long lost ones, and feels like a old, deep soul to me!
10" x 8 1/4" framed, not including wire hanging loop. All in very good good antique condition, with minor losses and tears to the paper, which appears to reveal pale blue paper behind it, very close in tcolor to the blue of the bird.
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