The rooster was one of the most popular of the barnyard animals chosen for the ubiquitous nineteenth-century weathervane. This cast example with sheet-iron tail is attributed to the Cushing factory on the basis of surviving molds. While it is commonly assumed that these weathervanes were used in farm situations, at least one other example of this multiple has a solid history of usage in the city of Newport.

Related examples: One with a history of usage on the carriage house at Chateau-Sur-Mer in Newport is illustrated in Bishop 1974, p. 65, fig. 92. Others include Lipman 1948, fig. 36; Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg, Virginia (acc. no. 31.800.8); MFA, Boston (acc. no. 1968.294); Ross 1997, p. 159.

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.