Paint decorated wood and leather with brass tacks bellows with architectural scene, New England, circa 1830

Skinner Auctioneers, Boston, Massachusetts, March 1985, lot 132
David A. Schorsch, Greenwich, Connecticut, as agent, 1985

''A Place for Us: Vernacular Architecture in American Folk Art," American Folk Art Museum, 1996-1997
"Folk Art Revealed," New York, American Folk Art Museum, November 16, 2004-August 23, 2009

American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 102, fig. 66

There is a 1 1/2 by 1/2 inch patriallyl inpainted area on the central portion of the painted bellows above the roof of the house that is depicted. Overall in 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.

The bellows, already used by ancient cultures to start or stoke a fire, was still an important tool in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American homes with open fireplaces for heat and cooking. Bellows made for domestic use consisted of two shaped boards with handles, connected by a band of leather all around, with wire or reed ribs to prevent the leather from collapsing. The boards narrowed to a small tip with an open end that was sheathed in brass or some other metal. A larger hole in the center of the back board opened into the bellows and provided a valve for the intake of air, which could be expelled with force from the narrow nozzle at the end.¹

This is one of a small group of bellows with unusual painted decoration of two-story houses set in landscapes.² It features a four-square hip-roofed house with a central chimney and ell, a familiar architectural configuration on the New England horizon as families prospered and moved from small shelters to more impressive homes. The bright yellow houses with cheerful red multi paned windows and chimneys sit in a surrounding verdant landscape of tall trees. The back is ornamented with red floral sprays around the valve. -S.C.H.

¹ Dorothy D. Stone, "Bellows," The Decorator 7, no. 2 (summer 1953): 5-6.
² Carol C. Sanderson and Christopher P. Monkhouse, Americana from the Daphne Farago Collection (Providence: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1985), p. 31.