Eagle

Dateca. 1850

Maker Gardner, Harrison & Co.(active under this name 1843-1858)

MediumPainted cast iron

DimensionsEagle without separate base: 30 3/4 x 66 x 6in., 190lb. (78.1 x 167.6 x 15.2cm, 86.2kg); Separate iron bracket/base: 6 x 17 1/2 x 5 7/8in., 17.5lb. (15.2 x 44.5 x 14.9cm, 7.9kg)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1966.801.2,1

DescriptionA painted cast iron high relief eagle with spread wings standing on irregularly-shaped rounded forms, his wings evenly spread but his body twisted so that both tail and head are towards the viewer's right. A separate, unpainted iron mounting shelf is presumed to be original, i.e., to have been supplied by the manufacturer.
Label TextThe attribution is based on a seemingly identical eagle that, in 1972, was also dated ca. 1850 and ascribed to the "Meeker Foundry in Newark, New Jersey." D. M. Meeker was one of the original owners of the firm established in 1843 at 87-95 Clay Street, but at that time, the foundry's name was Gardner, Harrison and Company. In 1858, the name was changed to Pierson & Meeker, and in 1861, D. M. Meeker became the sole proprietor. (In 1873, the name changed yet again, to D. M. Meeker & Son, when Stephen J. Meeker joined his father as a partner). The operation flourished (and was active at least as late as 1957). When its specialties were described in 1874, however, machinery and iron window sashes were emphasized; no ornamental castings were mentioned, and since no catalogues for the company have been located, it is unclear what percentage of its production consisted of figures like this eagle, which was designed to be mounted on the wall of a building.
Reportedly, the museum's eagle (and an identical mate) turned up in a shipment received by scrap iron dealer Charles Wintersnitz who, in 1850, installed the pair in front of his home at 637 Columbia Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland. Although that oral history has not been verified, the two eagles were still on the property as late as 1940, when a Baltimore newspaper pictured them there, not mounted on the front of the building but standing on brick pedestals in the front yard.
The irregular, rounded forms below the eagle have been described as flowers on occasion, but almost certainly they were meant to represent clouds.

ProvenanceAARFAM's eagle was one of a pair acquired in 1966. (The mate was deaccessioned in 1979). The pair once stood on brick pedestals in front of the house at 637 Washington Blvd., Baltimore, Maryland, reportedly having been placed there by the home's then owner, Charles Wintersnitz, around 1850. The pair were acquired from Peter Hill, Washington, DC, in 1966.

Exhibition(s)