Weathervane: Massasoit

Date1875-1900

Possibly by Harris & Co. (1867-ca. 1882)

Possibly by W. A. Snow & Co./W. A. Snow Iron Works (active ca. 1885-ca. 1940)

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Boston

Mediumcopper, zinc alloy, and gilt

DimensionsOverall: 32 x 30 9/16 x 2 3/4in. (81.3 x 77.6 x 7cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958.800.2,1

DescriptionA full-bodied copper weathervane in the form of an Indian standing full-length, his head turned in profile, his body facing the viewer, his foreward foot placed atop and nearly parallel to the horizontal bar that supports the vane, his rear foot turned at more of a right angle. His rear arm hangs down behind him, the hand grasping a large arrow. (The arrow is missing its feathers and one barb). His foreward arm is bent at the elbow, that hand holding a bow whose tip rests on the bar. He wears a belted, knee-length fringed shirt and a headdress of three feathers. Behind him, resting on the bar, is a clump of landscape: a rock, a tree stump, and a branch. Traces of gilt remain under later additions of yellow paint.
Label TextThe figure of an Indian holding or wielding a bow and arrow (or, sometimes, a spear) was a popular weather vane subject for many years. The earliest survivor may be a vane that Deacon Shem Drowne (1683-1774) made in or shortly after 1716 for the Province House in Boston. Ultimately, many if not all of these Indians hark back to a figure on the seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was designed in England and brought over with the first settlers in 1630. A later transmutation of the design (and one that is stylistically more directly linked to the Museum's vane) is the Massachusetts state seal.
On special order, about 1875, Harris & Company re-created the Massachusetts state seal as a vane for the Old State House in Boston. It appears that Harris then offered simplified versions to the general public, marketing their Indian as Massasoit (the name of the Wampanoag sachem whose aid sustained the Plymouth Colony in its early years). Most Massasoit vanes sold today are attributed to Harris & Company, but Harris sold its molds to the W. A. Snow Iron Works about 1883 so, depending on its date of manufacture, this vane could have been made by either firm. Snow sold its molds to E. G. Washburne & Company about 1940, but the Museum's vane probably predates that transition.
The Museum's vane is one of two that were acquired as a pair, but whether the two originally were used together is unknown. Conceivably, they topped different roof peaks or separate structures on the same property.

ProvenanceRobert Carlen, Philadelphia, Pa.

Exhibition(s)