Ship's Figurehead: Eagle

DatePossibly 1840-1860

OriginAmerica, Mid-Atlantic or New England (probably)

MediumPine with remnants of paint (wood not microscopically analyzed as of 2/22/2008)

DimensionsOverall (Including nailed-on rectangular base): 9 5/8 x 6 7/8 x 21in. (24.4 x 17.5 x 53.3cm) Other (Carving alone, without nailed-on base): 7 1/2 x 20 1/4 x 4 1/4in. (19.1 x 51.4 x 10.8cm)

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1932.704.2

DescriptionA three-dimensional woodcarving of an eagle's head with traces of paint remaining. It cannot be determined how much of the carving is missing at the back; the entire proper right side of the head was splintered off prior to acquisition. Artist unidentified.
Label TextLions were the commonest figures to be placed on the prows of ships in England and colonial America until about 1727, when the British Admiralty began allowing other types of heads on its smaller vessels. Increasingly after that date, human figures symbolizing the names of the ships were used in both Britain and America. Eagles only gradually began to attain a special niche in American ship decoration after the colonies declared independence and adopted a design featuring an eagle for the country's Great Seal.
This eagle is a fragment, and while it is impossible to know how much of the original carving has been lost, the scale of the head suggests that it decorated a relatively small vessel, perhaps something on the order of the yacht America, whose prow, shown below, boasts a similar head. Traces of multi-colored paint and gilding hint at the former appearance of the museum's example.

ProvenanceFound near Rockland, Maine, by Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, NY; in 1932, sold to Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who was AARFAM's donor.

Exhibition(s)