Golden Plover Decoy by Mr. Webster

Lot 364

About Seller

65 Sharp Street
Hingham, MA 02043
United States

Copley Fine Art Auctions is the world's leading American sporting art auction company. Located in Hingham, MA, Copley specializes in antique decoys and 19th- and 20th-century American, sporting, and wildlife paintings. Principal Stephen O'Brien Jr., a fourth-generation sportsman with a refined colle...Read more

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About Auction

The Winter Sale 2023, Day 2 by Copley Fine Art Auctions

Live

The Winter Sale 2023, Day 2

By Copley Fine Art Auctions

Feb 25, 2023

Set Reminder 2023-02-25 10:00:00 2023-02-25 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Winter Sale 2023, Day 2 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/copley/the-winter-sale-2023-day-2-11942 Lots 338-657 Copley Fine Art Auctions cinnie@copleyart.com

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Lot Description

Golden Plover
Mr. Webster
Nantucket, MA, c. 1850
10 in. long

This early plover with a sharp tail cut is among the best of its kind from the iconic Webster rig. It has resided on the island since it was made over a century and a half ago. Created in an upright posture, the swooping lines of this alert siren are on full display.

Early collectors Donal C. O'Brien Jr., William J. Mackey Jr., Adele Earnest, and Dr. Peter Muller all believed that the plover from this rig were some of the finest works of American folk art they had ever come across.

Indeed, Mackey and Donal O'Brien hunted down and acquired fifteen of the seventeen examples that surfaced. The majority continue to reside in the Donal O'Brien Collection and one can be seen in Mackey and Weiler's "Classic Shorebird Decoys" portfolio.

The rig is consistent in paint, depicted in bold breeding plumage; however, each bird's form is slightly different and the maker's free-hand approach produced a lively flock with no two birds exactly alike.

No survey of Nantucket shorebirds would be complete without an example of Webster's contributions to American folk art.
Original paint with light gunning wear.

Provenance: Franklin Folger Webster Collection
Allan "Rocket" Royal Collection, acquired from the above
Stephen B. O'Brien Sr. Collection, acquired from the above in 1975

Literature: Milton C. Weiler, "The Classic Decoy Series: A Portfolio of Paintings," New York, NY, 1969, pl. 2, rigmate illustrated. William Doyle Galleries, "Waterfowl and Shorebird Decoys," New York, NY, April 15, 1981, back cover and p. 61, lot 76, rigmate illustrated twice. Joe Engers, "Dr. Peter J. Muller: Bringing a good eye and an artistic approach to decoy collecting," Decoy Magazine, January/February 2008, p. 8, rigmate illustrated. Robert Shaw, "Call to the Sky: The Decoy Collection of James M. McCleery, M.D.," Houston, TX, 1992, p. 13, related example illustrated. Richard A. Bourne Co., Inc., "Very Rare and Important American Bird Decoys from the Collection of the late William J. Mackey Jr. of Belford, New Jersey," Hyannis, MA, 1973, Session III, lot 320, rigmate illustrated. Jeff Waingrow, "The American Decoy: Folk Sculpture from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Donal C. O'Brien Jr.," The Clarion: America's Folk Art Magazine, Fall 1981, p. 30, rigmate illustrated. Jackson Parker, "O'Brien Classic Decoys on Display at Museum of American Folk Art," North American Decoys Magazine, Spring/Summer 1982, p. 34, rigmate illustrated. Laurence Sheehan, "The Sporting Life," New York, NY, 1992, p. 79, two rigmates illustrated. Copley Fine Art Auctions, "The Donal C. O'Brien Jr. Collection of Important American Sporting Art and Decoys, Sessions I-II," July 27, 2017, inside front cover, six rigmates illustrated in Donal O'Brien's living room.

Condition

Please email condition report requests to colin@copleyart.com. Any condition statement given is a courtesy to customers, Copley will not be held responsible for any errors or omissions. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition.
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