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OBJECTS / SCULPTURE:
Here in the Objects / Sculpture Gallery you will find select examples of American folk art coupled with exceptional, but more traditional Americana. We strive to go beyond the "garden variety" and only offer unique examples that bridge antiques and art.
Please review our Portfolio / Recently Sold page to see the extent of the offerings we have handled.Important African-American Limberjack
Buffalo, New York
Circa: 1860
Size: 16" (l) x 17 1/2" (h)This large scale kinetic sculpture or limberjack escapes the form and is powerfully rendered more as a fetish figure than an object of entertainment. It was likely created by an African-American street musician made for personal performance, not novelty. Its potent visage and presence can be compared to African nkisi or spirit figures with the arrangement of re-purposed and disparate materials from the applied animal hair, macramé, iron springs, mother-of-pearl eyes and the “offering up” posture.
On the left, an African-American family is shown with their farm animals. It’s possible that the woman depicted is the very woman who created this textile."Checkerboard Artist" House Portrait
Somerset County, PA
Oil on board
Circa: 1820-1840
Size: 10" (w) x 7 3/8" (h)This deceptively simple work is subtle but remarkably indelible. It is attributed to "The Checkerboard Artist" of Somerset County, PA and relates to a small group of wall boxes and chests that share a common aesthetic and craftsmanship of incised, geometric design and a harmonious color palette of red, green, yellow, and black. This panel is the only non-utilitarian work associated with this maker.
Nebraskan Reliquary
Wisner Township, Nebraska
Circa: 1889
Size: 28" (h) x 9" (w) x 2 3/8”A remarkable document comprised of a photograph and caged fragments of a brick and melted glass soldered on a brass plaque (made from a pipe) with letter-punched text recounting the burning of a church by "The Freidenkers" or Free-thinkers in Wisner Township, Nebraska.
An Important African American Folk Art Textile
Probably Southern United States
Circa: 1870
Size: 28 1/4” (h) x 81” (w)This remarkable African-American Folk Art textile is rich with representational and abstract appliquéd figures, animals, and shapes. The large work comprises numerous blocks of homespun remnants and scraps of domestic and imported cotton, wool and silk fabrics. According to textile expert Jan Whitlock, no remnant is older than 1850, and a couple similar imported silk fabrics have been found on folk art textiles from Baltimore.
On the left, an African-American family is shown with their farm animals. It’s possible that the woman depicted is the very woman who created this textile.Rare Cuir Bouilli Figural Case
Italy or France
Circa: 1550
Size: 11 1/8 (h)" x 4" (d)An important and remarkable case in the form of an African-European man's head. The portrait features stylized eyes, a well-groomed mustache, a head wrap (turban), or a cap with radiating lines on the top, possibly representing strung pearls or gemstones.
Memento Mori Pomander in the form of a Skull
Probably Germany
Circa: 1625
Size: 1" (h)" x 7/8" (w) x 1" (d)The interior contains a compartment divided into six sections with a cover identifying various spices, including schlag (a composite of ambergris, musk, and civet), citron, muschat (nutmeg), canel (cinnamon), and rosewater. The open bottom mandible and large zygomatic bones are unusual and robust features of this exceptional example.
Folk Art Alligator Approaching Sleeping Jack Tar
Circa: 1900-1920
Size: 26" OALA remarkable American Folk Art discovery. Carved from the solid, this compelling work displays a large alligator approaching a sleeping Jack Tar catching an afternoon snooze. Laying with knees up and his hat resting on one, the man lays with his arms under his head ... little does he realize an alligator is inches away from him.
18thC New England Spoon Rack / Wall Box
Circa: 1760-1780
Size: 22” x 15” x 7 1/2”A first-rate large 18thC New England Spoon Rack / tombstone shaped wall box with a superb alligatored red painted surface constructed with with wrought nails and a linenfold molding.
SOLD
Important Folk Art Carving - Lion & Snake
Mansfield, PA
Circa: 1860-80
Size: 8" (w) x 7" (h) x 2 1/2" (d)Not many folk art carvings display this much drama and dynamic tension. A masterpiece carving attributed to "The Mansfield Carver," Mansfield, PA. The subject is from Aesop's Fables and has been a subject in sculpture for centuries.
Carved from the solid, a spotted snake is coiled around a lion and is shown at the point before striking. A true tour-de-force of carving and a masterpiece of 19thC vernacular carving.Important Folk Art Carving - Lion Cub & Snake
Mansfield, PA
Circa: 1860-80
Size: 7 3/8" (w) x 6 1/2" (h) x 2 1/2" (d)A great compliment to the other Mansfield Carver Lion and Snake. This one of a lion cub's encounter with a snake. The carving here is just as dynamic and full of action.
Southern Folk Art Limestone Carving of a Kissing Couple
Prestonsburg, Floyd County, Kentucky (found)
Circa: 1930-40
Size: 8” x 8” x 9” (h)A dynamic carving of a nude male and female embraced in a kiss with the man’s hand on her upper thigh. She is not resisting, but her slight push may be a signal to slow it down a bit.
Carvings as such in limestone are quite rare in that this small sculpture packs a lot of life into the stone. The work is carved in-the-round, and the figures have remarkable tension between them.
Though the work has elements not found on the carvings of William Edmondson, it certainly has some stylistic similarities.Unusual Folk Art Sculpture of A Naked Man Seated on a Snake
Circa: late 19th century
Size: 15 (h)" x 4 1/2" (w) x 4 1/2" (d)An unusual piece of American Folk Art - have not seen a similar precedent. A carved and painted naked man wearing a top hat sits upon a coiled green snake on top of a pedestal which when hooked up to a water source would stream water through the snakes mouth and the man’s hat! Must have been something to see. Scattered paint losses to original surface.
May Wilson (1905-1986) - Wrapped Baby Doll
Circa: 1970
Size: 12" (h) x 5 1/2" (w) x 4" (d)Wilson was an American artist and figure in the 1960s to 1990s New York City avant-garde art world. A pioneer of the feminist and mail art movement, she is best known for her Surrealist junk assemblages and her "Ridiculous Portrait" photocollages.
Rare Aluminum Salesman Sample Pig Feed Model
Circa: 1924
Size: 9 1/2 (h)" x 15 1/2" (l)A rare and great example of a cast aluminum and enamel salesman sample for the Moorman feed company. This example is all original (not repainted as some are) and is in excellent condition.
SOLD
Miniature Salesman Sample Cast Iron / Enamel Tub
Circa: Late 19thC / Early 20thC
Size: 11 3/4” OALA great salesman sample miniature bath tub made from cast iron and enamel with original brass fittings. All original and complete. English.
Rare Iron & Stone Pounder for Japanese Inoko festival
Circa: 19th century
Size: 9 (w)" x 8" (h) x 8" (d)A rare Japanese stone pounder for an Inoko festival, which is an autumn festival celebrating the young boar. Children would tie strings to the iron rings and in unison lift the heavy stone and pound it to the ground. They would go home to home and pound the floor near the entrance while singing the Inoko song.
The stone is a beautifully carved pellet-like form with the iron band set into a recessed channel carved in the stone so it is flush with the body of the stone. Though fairly small, the sculpture weighs 34 pounds.American Folk Art Monkeys Cane
Circa: 1910-1920
Size: 35" (oal) x 2" (w)"There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired." — Nick Carraway, The Great Gatsby.
An atypical vernacular cane carving, in that the carving of the cane and the figures are not characteristic of the language of other folk art cane carvers—this carving is very much it's own. The monkeys are more anthropomorphic than monkeys usually are and have tension within their interaction. Great piece.A Fine Gogotte - The Big Sleep
Fontainbleu France
Oligocene epoch (33.9 million to 23 million years old)
Size: 22" (l) / 11" (h) / 5" (d)A beautiful gogotte with a nice linear flow. Both sides present nicely - I see a figure lying in a bed with arms under their head - but like clouds you may see something different - my base maker saw an abstracted raven as depicted in Northwest Coast art.
A gogotte is a millions years old naturally shaped mineral concretion formed of tiny quartz fragments held together by calcium carbonate. Principally found in Fontainebleau, France, these mother-nature made sculptures have inspired artists from Jean Arp, Henry Moore and Louise Bourgeois. Louis XIV favored them and the have been exhibited at Versailles since the late 17thC.Rare Redware Sculpture - Drunkard Astride A Keg
Circa: Mid-Late 19thC
Size: 9 1/2" (h)" x 7" (w)" x 8" (l)This is an intriguing piece of ceramic sculpture! A drunkard armed with a bottle and a big mug sits astride a large brandy keg of spirits (àla Slim Pickens riding the bomb in Dr. Strangelove). His exaggerated and distorted face is detailed with slip decoration to his teeth and eyes (as well as his hands, and square rig cap).
Woodchuck Hatching
James W. Washington, Jr. (American 1909-2000)
Dated: 1977
Size: 12" L x 7" D x 6 1/2" HThough Woodchucks do not hatch from eggs, Washington successfully reminds us that all animal life begins with an egg. Regarding a similar work, a patron who upon seeing a recent work of Washington's in which a rabbit was hatching from an egg, exclaimed, "A rabbit does not come from an egg!" Washington replied, "Doctor, all life comes from an egg."
Bare Naked Beach Bingo
Low fired ceramic and glazes, yarn and synthetic hair
Circa: 1960s
Sizes range from: 4" (h) - 11 1/2" (h)A group of thirteen erotic “Barbie” figures each hand-modeled and painted and some with applied hair to the genitals. The standing figure in the center in the primitive red bikini is likely modeled after Raquel Welch and her fur bikini from One Million Years BC.
Cast Iron "Columbia" Architectural Element
Circa: 1900
Size: 14" (h) x 12" (w) x 3" (deep)A really great, well cast, iron face of Columbia (the historical name used to describe the Americas and the New World).
Large Coco de Mer
Circa: late 19thC
Size: 10" x 13"First rate example with a nice "thigh gap." Interior nut still intact (not hollowed out).
Sailors would find these floating in the ocean and had no idea where they originated from. They were carved and collected for their “femaleness.”Bronze Bird's Nest
Circa: mid 20thC
Size: 11” (d) x 7 1/2" (h)Modernist sculpture with great textures from the intertwined bronze nest, the faux tree stump and the square eggs.
STEVEN S. POWERS • 109 3RD PL #2 • BROOKLYN, NY 11231 • 718-625-1715 • email: steve@stevenspowers.com • © all rights reserved
