Rare watercolor fraktur: Presentation Fraktur for Jacob Bordner, Heinrich Engelhard (dates unknown) Probably western Berks County, Pennsylvania, dated 1830

Watercolor and ink on paper

Inscribed on recto, ink: I sing and pray aloud to you, my heart tastes gentle peace/I am adorned with virtues true, Hasten heav'nward when I cease. / Jacob Bordner. 1830.

Kennedy Galleries, New York, 1972

"American Radiance: Highlights of the Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum," de Menil Gallery at Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts, October 15-December 15, 2002

American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian GIft to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 198, fig. 166

Appears to be 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.

As more examples have been found, a relatively large body of fraktur dated from 1818 to 1831 has recently been attributed to schoolmaster Heinrich (or Hennrich) Engelhard. The artist seems to have been the son of Johann Georg Engelhard (1725-1804), who immigrated in 1750 and may have been a schoolmaster himself. After 1800 he and his children were communicants at Trinity Lutheran Church in New Holland, where he is buried. Heinrich married Sophia Weil on April 11, 1818, in the Tulpehocken region, but his earliest pieces of fraktur bear the names of people who lived in the Schwaben Creek Valley of Northumberland County; those made between 1827 and 1831 bear names of Berks County residents. Engelhard prepared bookplates for two volumes owned by Rosina Hering in 1827. He also made two drawings of baskets of strawberries for Jacob Bordner in 1830, as well as a house blessing for Elisabeth Bordner that same year.¹-F.S.W.

¹ For the other drawing for Jacob Bordner, see catalog for Garth's sale 10/12/90 (lot 441). The house blessing for Elisabeth Bordner is illustrated in Beatrice B. Garvan, The Pennsylvania German Collection (Philadelphia: PMA, 1982), p. 311, fig. 1.