Red, Yellow and Black Painted Pine and Leather Bellows, Probably Schuylkill or Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, dated 1847

Inscribed on backboard, paint: Conrad Kistler / 1847

H.M. Goodman, Richmond, Virginia
Robert E. Crawford, Manakin-Sabot, Virginia
Dr. and Mrs. Henry P. Deyerle, Harrisonburg, Virginia
Sotheby’s New York, "The Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Henry P. Deyerle," May 26-27, 1995, lot 619

American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 178, fig. 463

No apparent alteration to paint under blacklight. Some minor wear in leather, appropriate to use and age; paint on recto in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Facilitating the igniting of a fire by delivering a jet of air, pump-action bellows were a useful addition to the hearth equipment of many eighteenth- and nineteenth-century homes. Brightly painted versions with freehand or stenciled decoration were made by craftsmen and specialized manufacturers up and down the East Coast, and their production and popularity within the Pennsylvania German community is documented by a number of surviving examples. Decorated with stylized tulips, hearts, and patterned lines and dots in vibrant yellow and black on a bright red ground, this bellows relates to a small group of known examples with similar decoration. A small footstool and a shoe-shine box with hinged cover, both in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, exhibit similar painted decoration and, like the bellows, may have been made by a craftsman working within the Mahantango or Schwaben Creek Valley of central Pennsylvania.¹ Cabinetmakers and decorative painters in this close-knit community produced a distinctive group of forms with brightly painted figural decorations that often included a pattern of closely spaced lines and dots.

Thus far, genealogical research in the regional township records of these counties toward the identification of Conrad Kistler has failed to determine whether this inscription refers to the maker or the owner of the bellows. Names and dates within the painted decoration on other furniture and household utilitarian forms from the region and period have proven more often to be those of the owner rather than the signature of a locally active craftsman or specialized decorator. -J.L.L.

¹ The shoe-shine box is illustrated in Garvan, Collection, p. 14, fig. 17.