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

Public Domain

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Images(2)

Maker E. G. Washburne & Co. (New York City, founded 1853)New York City, founded 1853

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

On view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

SCULPTURE

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.

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