This ferocious-looking eagle typifies the nineteenth-century interpretation of the United States of America’s national symbol. The uncarved upper surfaces of the wings indicate that this example was intended to be viewed from below. While its original usage is not clear, two related examples have maritime associations or are described as pilothouse eagles, suggesting that this eagle may also have ornamented a boat.

Related examples: A smaller example at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., had been used on a Hudson River towboat (Welsh 1965, fig. 11); another, attributed to Charles Brown, has a history of usage on an oyster boat named The City of Bridgeport, advertisement of Greenleaf Antiques, Antiques 121 (April 1982), p. 896; one attributed to William Rush, advertisement of Nathan Liverant and Son, Antiques 124 (October 1983), p. 652. For other related examples classified as pilothouse eagles in the Index of American Design, see Hornung 1972, vol. i, pp. 42–45, nos. 82, 90, 92, 93. No. 93 has a similar wide wingspan, which, like the Bayou Bend example, is reinforced with metal strips applied to the upper side.

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.