Weathervane: Running Deer

DatePossibly 1890-1910

MediumIron and paint

DimensionsOverall: 20 3/4 x 32 1/4 x 3/4in. (52.7 x 81.9 x 1.9cm)

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1931.800.5

DescriptionSheet iron silhouette weather vane of a running deer. The vane is strengthened on the left side by bands of iron bolted to the body. One long S-curved band runs from the nose, down the neck, to the back legs, where it is joined by a supporting band on the other back leg. Another runs from the nose to the ends of the antlers. Each of the front legs is also supported by a V-shaped band of iron. A separate band is attached on the left side and bolted on forming a hollow for a pole to run through it to support the vane. Artist unidentified.
Label TextThe figure of a running or leaping deer was popular among both amateur and commercial weather vane makers during the nineteenth century. The graceful athleticism of the flesh-and-blood animal must have given it particular appeal.
This deer is reinforced by thin iron straps that repeat the animal's shape in an abstract fashion, adding to the vane's decorative quality.
ProvenanceFound in Quakertown, Penn., by Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, NY; purchased from Halpert by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, CWF's donor.

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