Pilothouse Eagle

DateProbably 1870-1900

OriginAmerica, Mid-Atlantic or New England (probably)

MediumGilded and painted copper and iron

DimensionsOverall (including stepped, unpainted wooden base): 28 7/8 x 38 x 20in. (73.3 x 96.5 x 50.8cm) Other (without stepped, unpainted wooden base): 26in. (66cm)

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1933.800.7

DescriptionA hollow, hammered, gilded and painted copper eagle on a hollow, red-painted iron ball. The eagle was formed in various sections which were soldered together. Artist unidentified.
Label TextNumerous eagles, virtually identical in form, were sold by several different manufacturers during the second half of the nineteenth century, making it impossible to assign this one to a specific firm. Other confusion centers on the original uses of these look-alike birds. Despite their poor wind-catching profiles, many firms advertised them as weather vanes. Close reading of sales catalogues helps clarify the matter, however; some of these cautioned prospective buyers that "arrows are indispensable when Eagles are used as Vanes." In other words, eagles configured like this one only reliably turned in the wind when paired with some separate, broad, flat form (and it was the latter that caused the ensemble to rotate). In order for eagles like this to serve as weather vanes, they were usually coupled with arrows, but quill pens were also touted.
A vane-less eagle had many uses, and since the bird was a well-known symbol of America, it particularly appealed to those inclined to patriotism. Some eagles functioned as multi-purpose trade signs. Others served as decorations on flag poles, lamp posts, monuments, buildings, and steamboat pilothouses. The museum's eagle has an oral history of having served on the roof of a pilothouse.

ProvenanceMiss Helen M. Shevlin, Cambridge, Mass.; bought (through Earle L. Rowe) by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who was AARFAM's donor.

Exhibition(s)