Joseph H. (J. H. Davis) (fl. circa 1832-1837)

Inscribed recto, ink: Charles: CHARLES-EDWIN TILTON/ JAN'Y 10th./—AGED. 3 YEARS & 2 MONTHS./—1837; George: GEORGE BAINBRIDGE. TILTON/—1837—/ AGED 7 YEARS & 5 MONTHS.JANY 27th.

Found in Portsmouth, New Hampshire 
William F. Graham
Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Cambridge, Maryland
Sotheby Parke-Bernet, "The Garbisch Collection, Volume II," April 27, 29-30, 1977, lots 403 and 404

"The All-American Dog: Man's Best Friend in Folk Art," American Folk Art Museum, 1977/78 (George only)
"Small Folk: A Celebration of Childhood in America," American Folk Art Museum and New-York Historical Society, 1980/81
"The Toys of New Hampshire's Children, 1800-1900," New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, 1985/86

Bishop, Robert, The All-American Dog: Man’s Best Friend in Folk Art, New York: Avon Books in association with American Folk Art Museum, 1978, p. 24 (George only)
Brant, Sandra, and Elissa Cullman, Small Folk: A Celebration of Childhood in America, New York: E.P. Dutton in association with American Folk Art Museum, 1980, pp. 28, 29
American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 60, figs. 31A-B

Appears to be in excellent 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 if on the way outdoors to play with their toys and pets, Charles Edwin Tilton and his brother George Bainbridge are depicted in complementary compositions. Charles holds a cap in one hand, tipped back as if he is about to put it on. He brandishes a whip in the other hand, with the lash drawn in a beautifully shaped ripple above his head. A master at capturing mischievous behavior in frisky animals or in children, Joseph H. Davis recorded the moment when little Charles has just cracked his whip, frightening a cat who runs away, knocking over a potted plant that now lies in ruins at the boy's feet. Often seen in male portraits, whips were common toys for young boys, presumably for training them to work with horses, a primary means of transportation in the nineteenth century. One account from 1825 documents that at least one parent was rather indulgent of his son's fondness for this toy. The chronicler reported, "We have seen a boy who literally had twenty new whips in one year, and we were present when his father, to comfort him when he was in pain, went out to buy him a new whip, though he had two or three scattered about the room."¹

Preparing to join his brother outdoors, George is about to trade his book for a remarkable kite adorned with a smiling face, which looks out at the viewer. Known as a "plane-surface" kite, this form was made in a rectangular, or rhomboidal, shape-or, as in this instance, a modified rhomboid with a curved top-and equipped with a tail for stabilization. Believed to have been introduced into Western culture by European sailors traveling from Asia, the plane-surface kite also could have derived from Arabian regions, where it existed at least as early as the ninth century A.D.²

Biographical information concerning the identity of these two boys is relatively scarce. Charles, who was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, about 1834, had at least five children with his wife, Jane Rollins, also a native of Deerfield.³ According to the 1860 federal census, George, who was born about 1830, is listed in the same dwelling, with his wife, Sarah, and their three children. Although Charles is recorded as a farmer in this census, according to his children's birth records he also worked as a shoemaker, or cordwainer, as did George. In 1860 Deerfield, the largest farming town in Rockingham County, with a population of more than two thousand, boasted two large shoe manufactories, where these boys may have worked as men.⁴ By 1874 the town's commercial output in shoes and boots numbered 230,000 pairs, valued at $280,000.5 -C.E.M.

¹ Maria Edgeworth, Works of Maria Edgeworth Complete in Thirteen Volumes (Boston: Samuel H. Parker, 1825), p. 204, as quoted in Jennifer A. Yunginger, Is She or Isn't He? Identifying Gender in Folk Portraits of Children (Sandwich, Mass.: Heritage Plantation, 1995), p. 126.
² Clive Hart, Kites: An Historical Survey (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1967), pp. 67-68.
³ Birth records for Charles C. Tilton, Jan. 14, 1862, and George B. Tilton, [?], 1858, Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, N.H.
⁴ A.J. Coolidge and J.B. Mansfield, History and Descripti011 of New England: New Hampshire (Boston: Austin J. Coolidge, 1860), p. 465, and Hurd, Rockingham and Strafford, pp.164-67, 106 Fogg, Statistics and Gazetteer, p.125.