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JOHN FRANCO, ASSONET, MASSACHUSETTS
Details
A GROUP OF NINE DECORATIVE CARVED AND PAINTED WATERFOWL SCULPTURES
John Franco, Assonet, Massachusetts
Comprising: an upland plover; a least bittern, perched on driftwood, with pickerel weed behind, a clapper rail, signed by maker on base, dated 1980 oysters at base are actually carved of wood; an American oystercatcher and a black-bellied plover, three-quarter lifesize, signed by maker on base, dated 1981 in naturalistic shoreline setting with mussels and scallop shell; a woodcock, signed by maker on base and dated Sept., 1980; a marsh wren, signed by maker on base and dated Sept. 1980 also, with carved wooden oysters at base; a long-billed curlew, signed on bottom by maker and dated 1980, on sand-covered base; a carved wood snail and a whimbrel, signed by maker under base, and dated Oct. 1981, perched on beach rock with mussels attached (9)
John Franco, Assonet, Massachusetts
Comprising: an upland plover; a least bittern, perched on driftwood, with pickerel weed behind, a clapper rail, signed by maker on base, dated 1980 oysters at base are actually carved of wood; an American oystercatcher and a black-bellied plover, three-quarter lifesize, signed by maker on base, dated 1981 in naturalistic shoreline setting with mussels and scallop shell; a woodcock, signed by maker on base and dated Sept., 1980; a marsh wren, signed by maker on base and dated Sept. 1980 also, with carved wooden oysters at base; a long-billed curlew, signed on bottom by maker and dated 1980, on sand-covered base; a carved wood snail and a whimbrel, signed by maker under base, and dated Oct. 1981, perched on beach rock with mussels attached (9)
Literature
The Clapper Rail: Anne Small, Masters of Decorative Bird Carving (Winchester Press, 1981), p. 71; The Marsh Wren: Small, p. 83.
Exhibited
The clapper rail: Academy of Natural Sciences Wildfowl Art Exposition, Philadelphia, 1981, exhibited and illustrated in the catalogue, p. 20.