Feeding Bobwhite Quail by A. Elmer Crowell (1862-1952)

Lot 82

About Seller

20 Winter Street
Pembroke, MA 02359
United States

Founded in 2005, Copley Fine Art Auctions is a boutique auction house specializing in antique decoys and American, sporting, and wildlife paintings. Over the course of the last two decades, the firm has set auction records for not only individual decoy makers, but also entire carving regions. Copley...Read more

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About Auction

The Winter Sale 2025, Day 1 by Copley Fine Art Auctions

Live

The Winter Sale 2025, Day 1

By Copley Fine Art Auctions

Feb 21, 2025

Set Reminder 2025-02-21 10:00:00 2025-02-21 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Winter Sale 2025, Day 1 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/copley/the-winter-sale-2025-day-1-17703 Lots 1-261 Copley Fine Art Auctions cinnie@copleyart.com

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Lot Description

Feeding Bobwhite Quail
A. Elmer Crowell (1862-1952)
East Harwich, MA, c. 1930
8 1/2 in. long

"The strangest sight Mr. Crowell has seen during his long life concerned with birds was a covey of quail which he twice saw landing on water. This apparently inexplicable phenomenon was, according to Mr. Crowell, a case of a whole flock of birds getting thoroughly fooled by the reflection of the bank in the water. 'Shosh-shosh-shosh, they came down,' he explained. 'And never did I see birds so completely disgusted with themselves. Why those quails just sit there—so plumb mad about the whole business—that I rowed right over and picked 'em up without a flutter.'" - Cape Cod Standard-Times, August 23, 1940

A life-size bobwhite quail carving in a rare feeding pose. This decorative game bird has a remarkable amount of detail, starting with Crowell's best blended plumage from tip to tail. It also has incised tail feathers, two-tone glass eyes, and the maker's rectangular stamp on the bottom of the base. The quail, native to Cape Cod, was on the decline by the start of the 20th century. As a result, Crowell, who loved to carve and paint from real models, did not make many of these important game birds.

While the reaching bird form is a pose Crowell applied to a number of species, his pairing of a feeding quail with an alert bird has a special significance in the pantheon of American Sporting Art. Crowell was known to take direct inspiration from his greatest carving and painting predecessors (see lot 98) and that certainly appears to have been the case with his quail. More than half a century prior to Crowell's decoratives, Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (1819-1905) painted a famous bobwhite scene that became the iconic Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888) (of Currier and Ives) hand-colored lithograph "The Cares of a Family" in 1856. Given the parallels, it's hard to imagine this was not an influence on the carver.
Original paint with light wear and craquelure to end grain. Professional touch-up mostly to throat, left side of head, shoulder, and just a little above tail. Touch-up and replaced putty to feet.

Literature: Stephen B. O'Brien Jr. and Chelsie W. Olney, "Elmer Crowell: Father of American Bird Carving," Hingham, MA, 2019, p. 19, Tait painting illustrated, p. 183, exact bird illustrated. Copley Fine Art Auction, "The Winter Sale," January 2012, lot 44, related pair illustrated.

Condition

Please refer to the description; if you have questions, email colin@copleyart.com.
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