Fraktur Pattern or Unfinished Design: Flowering Branch

Dateca. 1800

Attributed to Jacob Strickler (1770-1842)

MediumInk on laid paper

DimensionsPrimary Support: 8 1/8 x 8 3/16in. (20.6 x 20.8cm) and Framed: 9 1/2 x 9 1/2in. (24.1 x 24.1cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1974.305.4

DescriptionIn ink outlines, the left half of a large heart, with a small, entire, heart below and to the left of it, occupies much of the righthand half of the sheet. Emanating from the entire heart, a branch bearing leaves and flowers curves back over the half-heart. The left side and top of the sheet are marked off with a single line. The upper left corner is enclosed by a line drawn at a 45 degree angle and decorated with zig-zagging. The lower left corner is similarly enclosed but the enclosure line is decorated with half circles alternating with with triangular shapes.
Label TextStrickler's German-speaking ancestors emigrated from Switzerland to Virginia in the early eighteenth century. He himself may have served as a parochial school teacher or a preacher (most likely Mennonite); the recorded contents of his library favor the latter speculation. In either case, Strickler is considered one of the most imaginative fraktur artists to have worked in Virginia.
This sketch probably was intended as a pattern for executing birth and baptismal certificates or other Fraktur designs. Once traced onto a second paper, it could have been flipped and retraced to create a symmetrical composition.
Although simple, the work can be ascribed to the artist on the basis of its materials, technique, and especially its long-standing inclusion in a sizable collection of signed or readily-attributable pieces. Like the other unfinished pieces in the collection, it provides insights into Strickler's methods of working.

MarkingsA partial "IC" watermark appears in the paper, but the paper maker who used it has not been identified.

ProvenanceThis piece was acquired, along with 11 others (see "Related Works") from Jesse Modisett, Augustus M. Modisett, Harold M. Modisett, and Mrs. Lawrence H. Modisett. Jesse Modisett's letter to Don Walters dated December 19, 1974, identifies these three relations as his brothers and sister-in-law. Ownership prior to the Modisetts' has not been recorded.