Merman

Date1803

Possibly by Jacob Weiser (active ca. 1803)

MediumWatercolor and ink on laid paper

DimensionsPrimary support: 5 5/8" x 5" and Framed: 8 3/8" x 7 15/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1957.305.10

DescriptionA depiction of a being, half-human, half-fish, rendered in red, black, and brown. The perky figure raises a barbed tail behind him. Short lines ending in dots are drawn outward from various points along his body, suggesting hairs. In other areas, mere dots follow the perimeter of the body. The smiling creature stares at the viewer and raises one arm (or fin), seemingly in salute. Scallops top his head. His body is variously decorated with bands, stripes, and geometric designs. Three floral sprigs fill three of the corners. Alternating red, black, and white, i.e., uncolored, blocks form a border around the pictorial design.
The 1 1/2-inch splayed mahogany frame with 1/4-inch beveled inner edge is probably a period replacement.
Label TextMermaids and mermen appear on some frakturs and on numerous objects created in America during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. All of the fraktur examples recorded to date have Pennsylvania or Maryland origins, while the objects, such as weather vanes and tombstones, have either New York or New England provenances. Without documentation on the specific meaning or symbolic inferences these images held for Americans, one can only guess that here, as in Europe, the half-human, half-fish creatures were tied to traditional folklore and mythological tales in which their beauty and allure enticed seafarers into danger and even death.

There were several Pennsylvania fraktur artists who popularized such images, including George Friederich Speyer, working principally in Lancaster County in the late eighteenth century; Henrich Otto, who preceded Speyer in the same county; Christian Mertel; and Friedrich Krebs, whose works may have been inspired by Speyer's and/or Otto's. Additional examples by unidentified artists also survive.

The name Jacob Weiser inscribed below this jaunty little creature may be that of the maker, most likely a descendant of John Conrad Weiser (1696-1760) of Pennsylvania. There were several Jacobs in the family, but research has failed to prove whether one of them created the Merman. No other pieces by the hand have been identified. The quality of the drawing is somewhat uneven but displays a clear knowledge of popular fraktur motifs. The lobed flowers on stems with leaves terminating in pronounced curls or dots, the dots and dashes used to create fins along the figure's sides, and the multicolored bands on the body are embellishments used by other artists during the period.
InscribedThe ink inscription at center bottom reads "Jacob Weiser/1803."

On the reverse of the primary support are seven lines in German in script (an eighth line is cut off at the bottom) that are now barely discernible due to a past application of backing tissue (a conservation measure). The text seems to be fragmentary. Possibly someone wrote on the paper before the Merman was drawn on the other side of it. Below are Alan Keyser's best efforts at transcription and translation of the lines as of October 7, 2010:

Transcription: "[Wer sie] vor gott Recht lehren läst d[er] /thut beä ihn das Aller Best/lehr Und tugend das Ziert die segen/ __ft den ____ Zu ofen Weld Und [wegen]/ Wer sie vor Gott rech[t]/ [lehren läst] thut beä ihn das Aller best/[Ich G]laub ich hab Es recht geschrie[ben]".

Translation: "Whoever allows himself to learn properly before God, Does for him the very best. Learning and virtue ornament the blessing ____ will open the world and paths, and whoever allows himself to learn properly before God, Does for him the very best. I think I have written this correctly."

ProvenanceThe piece's previous ownership is unrecorded.