FINE WHITE-PAINTED SWAN DECOY, MARYLAND, LATE 19TH TO EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Ricco Maresca, New York.

Tom Geismar and Harvey Kahn, Spiritually Moving: A Collection of American Folk Art Sculpture (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998) cat. no. 49, illus. in color.

Swans were common companions of the large groups of ducks that rafted and fed together in the upper Chesapeake Bay region, so commercial market gunners often added a swan decoy or two to the large rigs they set out. This heavy solid-bodied swan carries a substantial metal weight on its underside to balance it out in the water.