Sculptural Fantasy: The Important American Folk Art Collection of Stephen and Petra Levin

Sculptural Fantasy: The Important American Folk Art Collection of Stephen and Petra Levin

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 50. IMPORTANT CARVED AND POLYCHROME PAINT-DECORATED SPREAD-WINGED AMERICAN EAGLE WITH DRAPED FLAGS AND SHIELD, JOHN HALEY BELLAMY (1836-1914), KITTERY POINT, MAINE, CIRCA 1900.

IMPORTANT CARVED AND POLYCHROME PAINT-DECORATED SPREAD-WINGED AMERICAN EAGLE WITH DRAPED FLAGS AND SHIELD, JOHN HALEY BELLAMY (1836-1914), KITTERY POINT, MAINE, CIRCA 1900

Auction Closed

October 10, 05:49 PM GMT

Estimate

50,000 - 100,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

IMPORTANT CARVED AND POLYCHROME PAINT-DECORATED SPREAD-WINGED AMERICAN EAGLE WITH DRAPED FLAGS AND SHIELD, JOHN HALEY BELLAMY (1836-1914), KITTERY POINT, MAINE, CIRCA 1900


appears to retain all of its original paint.


Height 30 by Width 26 by Depth 8 in.

Hyland Granby Antiques, Hyannis, Massachusetts.

Yvonne Brault Smith, John Haley Bellamy Carver of Eagles (Portsmouth Marine Society, Publication 1, 1982), p. 36;

William L. Hamilton, "For Antiques An Anxious Season," The New York Times, November 8, 2001, p. D1;

The Catalogue of Antiques & Fine Art, Vol. 111, No. 1, January 2002 (cover);

Deborah Harding, Stars and Strips, (New York: Rizzoli, 2002), pp. frontispiece, 208-9; 

James A. Craig, American Eagle: The Bold Art and Brash Life of John Haley Bellamy (Portsmouth, NH: Portsmouth Marine Society, Publication Number 34, 2014), pp. 84-85, figs. 6.9-6.11.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Portsmouth Museum, American Eagle, The Bold and Brash Life of John Haley Bellamy, April 3 - October 3, 2014.

This remarkable American eagle stands as one of the supreme masterpieces of John Haley Bellamy's oeuvre. James Craig stated the following: "It is an extremely rare bird. It is the only known example of this particular type of eagle that Bellamy crafted which is still in existence. A far more complicated piece than his usual two-foot eagles. He probably made only a few dozen of these, at the most, throughout the entirely of his career. Having studied this piece firsthand extensively, I can tell you that it is 100% Bellamy's handiwork with no other hands present, save for the possible exception of an apprentice who did the initial outline cuts on the blocks of wood that eventually became this piece. It is a first-rate creation."