Beschreibung:

Walnut Carved and Painted Folk Art Chair, attributed to Henry Leach (1809-1885), probably Massachusetts, third quarter 19th century, the back carved with three owls, two of which have inset glass eyes, the third sleeping, perched on a brick wall, above the rectangular seat on frontal block, vase and ring-turned tapering legs, joined by a stretcher carved with a pair of dogs, joined to the rear legs by turned stretchers, original surface, ht. 34 1/2, seat ht. 18 1/2 in. Provenance: This chair descended in the carver Henry Leach's family until 2005, and an inscription appearing underneath the carving reads "Bullard", the family name of Leach's sister Emily Leach McKimtry Bullard, the likely original owner. Note: Myrna Kaye writes: "Henry Leach...carved the models for almost all of the [weather]vanes Cushing & White added to the Jewell line...an ornamental carver, [he] lived and worked at 2 Indiana Street, Boston, having begun his short woodcarving career (1867-72)...Leach carved the trotter Ethan Allen, the trotter Dexter, the 60-inch Goddess of Liberty, the fox and hound, and the squirrel, among others," Yankee Weathervanes, New York, 1975, p. 144. Illustrations of many of these weather vanes appear in Kaye's book. Literature: A chair from the same group of carved chairs and signed by Leach is illustrated in Art of the Weathervane, by Steve Miller Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., Exton, Pennsylvania, 1984, pp 16-17.