E. G. Washburne & Co.
Statue of Liberty Weathervane

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Statue of Liberty Weathervane
Datec. 1886–1900
Made inNew York , New York, United States
MediumCopper
Dimensions38 3/4 × 13 3/4 × 4 in. (98.4 × 34.9 × 10.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Theta Charity Antiques Show
Object numberB.74.7
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Folk Art Porch
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The theme of Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi’s figure of Liberty holding her torch high to enlighten the world was adapted to the weathervane after the statue’s installation on Bedloe’s Island in 1886. This example, stamped “Washburne & Co.” on the book underneath the figure’s left arm, was produced by the firm founded in 1853 and still in business in Danvers, Massachusetts.

Related examples: Advertisement of Steve Miller American Folk Art, Antiques 133 (March 1988), p. 546.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.


Provenance[Kennedy Galleries, New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, March 12, 1974; given to MFAH, 1974.
Exhibition History"Theta Antique Show," Reliant Astrohall, Houston, September 11–15, 2002.

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
Stamped on book: Washburne & Co.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Racing Sulky Weathervane
20th century
Copper
B.69.532
Weathervane
c. 1880–1920
Sheet copper, iron, wood, and paint
B.76.217.A,.B
Cavalry Officer Weathervane
c. 1860–1900
Copper and paint
B.69.533
Gamecock Weathervane
c. 1875–1900
Sheet iron, gilded, copper, and paint
B.71.129
Eagle Weathervane
19th century
Tin
B.74.28
Dove Weathervane
c. 1875–1900
Zinc
B.55.8
Rooster Weathervane
L. W. Cushing & Sons
c. 1872–1900
Iron and paint
B.55.10
Horse Weathervane
Rochester Iron Works
c. 1850–1875
Iron
B.55.9
Untitled
E. G. Morris
c. 1852
Daguerreotype, 1/6 plate
2003.507
Sauceboat
J. E. Caldwell & Co.
c. 1860–1875
Silver
B.97.33
Vase
T. G. Hawkes & Co.
1880–1920
Glass
91.1423
Pater Patriae
Enoch G. Gridley
c. 1800
Stipple and line engraving with etching on wove paper
B.96.5