CENTAURAMERICAN SCHOOL, 19TH CENTURY | CentaurAmerican School, 19th century

Maurice Cohen, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan;
Hill Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan;
Edmund Fuller, Woodstock, New York;
James Kronen, New York;
Hill Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan.

Kenneth Fitzgerald, Weathervanes and Whirligigs (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1967) p. 102;
Steve Miller, The Art of the Weathervane (Exton, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 1984) p. 65;
Robert Bishop and Patricia Coblenz, A Gallery of American Weathervanes and Whirligigs (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1981) p. 84;
Tom Geismar and Harvey Kahn, Spiritually Moving:  A Collection of American Folk Art Sculpture (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998) cat. no. 69, illus. in color.

Surface losses and old repair. Resoldered Tail. IMPORTANT NOTICE: Purchasers may pay for and pick up their purchases from any of our Americana Week sales taking place from January 17-20, 2019, at our York Avenue headquarters until the close of business on Sunday, January 20, 2019. After this time, all property (sold and unsold) will be transferred to our offsite facility, Crozier Fine Art, One Star Ledger Plaza, 69 Court Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102. Once property has been transferred from our York Avenue location, it will not be available for collection at Crozier Fine Arts until Friday, January 25, 2019. Crozier's hours of operation for collection are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday-Friday. Please note, certain items of property, including but not limited to jewelry, watches, silver and works on panel will remain at 1334 York Avenue. Invoices and statements will indicate your property's location. For more information regarding collection from our offsite facility, please visit sothebys.com/pickup.
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.

While this powerful form has often been attributed to A.L. Jewell of Waltham, Massachusetts, the centaur form he made and illustrated in a broadside is quite different and far less refined and muscular than this example. One of Jewell's centaurs, which he called an Archer, is in the collection of the Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts, along with a receipt for its sale signed by Jewell. The Heritage Museums also own an example of this vane form, as do the Shelburne Museum and American Folk Art Museum. The form was also recorded in a watercolor for the Index of American Design. Centaurs were a race of Greek mythological creatures that combined the torso, head, and arms of a human with the lower body, legs, and tail of a horse. Most Greek images of centaurs do not include a bow and arrow, but Sagittarius, the centaur who represents the ninth sign of the astrological Zodiac, has always been depicted as an archer drawing an arrow in his bow.