A WATERCOLOR AND INK DECORATED DRAWING

ATTRIBUTED TO RUDOLPH LANDES (1784-1852), HILLTOWN AND NEW BRITAIN TOWNSHIPS, BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CIRCA 1814

Details

A WATERCOLOR AND INK DECORATED DRAWING
Attributed to Rudolph Landes (1784-1852), Hilltown and New Britain Townships, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, circa 1814
Rectangular, in red, brown, black and yellow, centering two intertwined preening parrots flanked by scrolling flowers and vines and crowned at the neck by sprouting foliate branches
7¾in. high, 6 1/3 in. wide

Literature

Frederick Weiser, The Gift is Small, The Love is Great (York: York Graphic Services, Inc., 1994), fig. 111, p.114.

Exhibited

New York City, Museum of American Folk Art, "The Gift is Small, The Love is Great," 21 January-21 April 1995.

Lot Essay

While the motif of a conjoined pair of birds is common throughout Pennsylvania German decorative arts, the particular similarity of the drawing illustrated here to a religious text signed by Rudolph Landes and dated 1814 (illustrated FLP 239) suggests the Bucks County Schoolmaster may be the author of the image shown here as well.