Naval Officer

Date1840-1860

OriginAmerica, Mid-Atlantic or New England

MediumPainted pine (figure) and oak (later addition to base)

DimensionsOverall (Including integral base): 37 3/4 x 14 x 12in. (95.9 x 35.6 x 30.5cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1957.705.1

DescriptionA freestanding, approximately half life-size, polychromed woodcarving of a man in naval officer's attire, mounted on a [separate?] base, a telescope in his proper left hand. The trunk of the figure is carved from one piece of wood, the arms separate and set in, the telescope added. He wears a dark blue coat with gold facings (the lapel edges of which are zig-zagged, as are his cuffs); oversized gold epaulettes; a gold-trimmed black bicorn hat; reddish brown knee breeches; gray stockings; a white, ruffled shirt; gold-trimmed white waistcoat; and black, buckled shoes. Two iron loops are inserted into the back of the figure.
Label TextWhen used as trade advertisements, figures of naval officers often signified ship chandleries, or shops where one could purchase all kinds of tools and devices for sailing ships, ranging from charts, writing implements, and logbooks to expensive technical instruments, such as sextants and telescopes. (Tar, lines, caulking, sailcloth, and other materials needed to equip ships usually came from other sources along the waterfront).
This officer holds a simulation of a telescope in his hand, suggesting that he stood in or near a ship chandler's or nautical instrument maker's shop. , but no firm history has been documented for him.

ProvenanceFrom an undocumented owner, who claimed that the figure had been used over the doorway of the shop of a ship's instrument maker (see n. 1 below); found in New Haven, Conn., by Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, NY; purchased from Halpert by CWF.

n. 1: the claim is included in Halpert's record sheet on the figure.

Exhibition(s)