The Horton Hollow Nantucket Golden Plover Decoy

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The Winter Sale 2022, Day 1

By Copley Fine Art Auctions

Mar 4, 2022

Set Reminder 2022-03-04 10:00:00 2022-03-04 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Winter Sale 2022, Day 1 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/copley/the-winter-sale-2022-day-1-8719
Lots 1-264 Copley Fine Art Auctions cinnie@copleyart.com

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• Lot Description
  The Horton Hollow Nantucket Golden Plover
  Nantucket, MA, c. 1850
  10 1/4 in. long
  
  A featherlight, hollow plover with extraordinary carving and construction detail by a great unnamed Nantucket craftsman. Very few of these early and delicate plover have survived in any condition, with the vast majority being found with significant repairs and repaint (see lot 149). The design, execution, and refinement of this form place it in the ranks of A. Elmer Crowell (1862-1952), Fred Nichols (1854-1924), and Charles Sumner Bunn (1865-1952) when these carvers were at their prime. Given the apparent age and the history of golden plover hunting on Nantucket, it is likely that this 19th-century sculpture predates the aforementioned masters by decades.
  
  Along with the great dovetailed maker, this Nantucket carver is among the greatest craftsmen ever to construct a working shorebird decoy. These two early and unnamed makers routinely applied an elevated level of refinement both inside and outside of their distinct hollow shorebirds. This plover displays a very tight vertical body seam, which was hollowed to an egg-shell-thin hull. Like several of Crowell’s dust-jacket plover, the entire perimeter of the wing is raised. The thin raised and split wing tips are original and reminiscent of Nichols at his most daring. Flaring away from the wings is a thin curved tail finished on both top and bottom with V-parted feathering. A mortise-and-tenon bill fits perfectly in an alert head with tack eyes.
  
  Strong breeding plumage adorns the form. One bold white sweeping line on the head begins an S-curve that culminates with the raised-wing line. Lively gold, green, and white feathering color the topside, while black-and-white modeling evolves from the throat down to the tip of tail.
  
  A small stick hole is placed at a steep angle, presenting this alert plover with purpose. This attention to stick placement assures both posture and balance to dance in the breeze.
  
  This exceedingly rare decoy, along with two related examples held in the Donal C. O’Brien Jr. Collection of Nantucket shorebird Decoys, are among the very finest by this Island maker known.
  Original paint with light gunning wear, right wing tip has been reset.
  
  Provenance: Lew Horton Collection

  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.
• Shipping Info

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