POSSIBLY J.L. MOTT IRONWORKS, NEW YORK, 1880-1900

Her arm raised high and her body arching in the opposite direction, the figure of this Goddess of Liberty weathervane exudes movement. The dramatic pose enhanced by the curvature of the flagpole echoing the shape of the figure, it is the most exuberant of the known Liberty weathervane models. Based upon an 1892 catalogue, this model has been associated with J.L. Mott ironworks of New York and Chicago. Their plate no. 128-Q illustrates a Liberty figure with Phrygian cap of the same design and an arrowhead on the directional that is seemingly identical to that on another example of this model that retains this element. As noted by David Schorsch and Eileen Smiles, the likeness between the plate and the surviving models “appears to exhibit common authorship.” Schorsch and Smiles also note the similarity to vanes made by A.L. Jewell & Co. in Waltham, Massachusetts and raise the possibility that the model represented by the vane offered here was an example of J.L. Mott & Co. copying, to a certain extent, the wares of their competitors. While the Jewell vanes have similarly rendered and positioned arms and a star-studded sash like that on this vane, the caps and dresses are of different designs and both the figure and flagpole are upright. Another parallel is a model made by both William Henis of Philadelphia and Vincent W. Baldwin of New York that has a similar sweep to the body, but lacks the height of the arm and has a straight flagpole (J.L. & Mott Iron Works, Vanes, Bannerets and Finials (New York and Chicago, 1892), p. 55, plate 128-Q; David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles, catalogue entry, Expressions of Innocence and Eloquence: Selections from the Jane Katcher Collection of Americana, Jane Katcher, David A. Schorsch and Ruth Wolfe, eds. (New Haven, Connecticut, 2006), p. 382, no. 153; Robert Shaw, American Weathervanes: The Art of the Winds (New York, 2021); Sotheby’s, New York, 21 January 2021, lot 165). At least three other examples of the model offered here are known including a vane in the Katcher Collection, promised gift to Yale University Art Gallery (Schorsch and Smiles, op. cit.; Sotheby’s, New York, 21 January 2017, lot 4188; Sotheby’s, New York, 21 January 2018, lot 1326).