Rare watercolor religious text with birds and hearts Weaverland, Earl Township, Lancaster County, Pennsyvlania, dated 1824

George Horace Lorimer, Philadelphia
Parke-Bernet Galleries, "Fine American & English Furniture Collected by the Late George Horace Lorimer," October 24-28, 1944, lot 379
Hattie K. Brunner, Reinholds, Pennsylvania
Fred Wichmann, New York
Sotheby Parke-Bernet, "The Fred Wichmann Collection of Pennsylvania-German Fraktur and Related Decorative Arts," June 9, 1983, lot 24

"Every Picture Tells a Story: Word and Image in American Folk Art," American Folk Art Museum, 1994-1995

Kogan, Lee, and Barbara Cate. Treasures of Folk Art: Museum of American Folk Art. New York: Abbeville Press in association with theAmerican Folk Art Museum, 1994, p. 118
American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 230, fig. 202

Scattered repairs to brittle edges of the paper; discoloration extreme right side and upper corners. Small loss to upper right.
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.

Inscribed (translated from German) recto, ink: Aren't the birds in the/ Morning moving their little tongues / To express thanks that daybreak / Wouldn't come so fast. / Do you Wish to sing a song in a / quiet surrounding for the Highest? / Not everything comes from the bottom of the heart / The mouth can pronounce beautiful and lovely words. / The man that is born of Woman / Lives a short time only, develops / Like a flower, rises like a shadow / But does not endure. / Pleasure and love for anything reduces / All trouble and labor to almost nothing and/ Everything you wish / That people do for you / You should do for them;/ That is the law, and the prophets, say / The life span of a human being stretches over / Seventy years and if it is very long then it / May be eighty years, and if it has been beautiful / Then it consisted of Trouble and Work; because / It passes very fast, as if we are flying away. / From the 90th Psalm, Verse 1O. / You are told, Man, what is good and / What your Lord and God demands from you, namely, / You young people are to be submissive to the older ones. / Generally, be submissive to each other and stick / To humility, because God is against the vain ones / But He'll grant Grace to the humble ones, therefore / Humbly submit yourselves to the Mighty Hand of God.! a.s.f / 1824 / Samuel E. Weaver