Philadelphia Antiques Show 2022

82 2 0 2 2 LOAN EXH I B I T 1988 • COURTING THE WINDS In yet another loan exhibit triumph, the 1988 loan exhibit hailed itself as “Courting the Winds” and featured a tremendous array of both silhouette and full-bodied weathervanes. Folk Art dealer Gerald Kornblau (1929-2011) wrote a short essay about the types of vanes and how they were made, followed by an outstanding array of photographs of vanes in situ. Roosters, horse-drawn pumpers, bannerets, fire horns, horses, a stork (Pennsylvania Hospital), and a Paul Cret-designed elephant were among those from buildings in Philadelphia and Southeastern Pennsylvania. Joan Johnson, the longtime loan committee chair who always doubled as the loan exhibit’s silent co-curator, worked with Gerald to amass loans of nearly three dozen vanes from private and public collections to illustrate the gamut of these ornamental yet functional architectural fixtures. Founded in 1852 by Alvin Leonard Jewell (1821-1867) in Waltham, Massachusetts, as a metal castings, machine, and repair shop, the firm of A.L. Jewell & Co. began to specialize in vanes by the early 1860s. Early examples of leaping stag weathervanes by Jewell & Co. are rare, and the blunt-ended, round cornered snout and simple light impressions found on the body distinguish his stags. Jewell offered less expensive weathervanes, hence the lack of details seen on their works. By 1867, when A.L. Jewell fell to his death from a scaffolding erected for him to install a vane, he was advertising that his firm made seventy-eight varieties of vanes. Collectors today not only recognize the influence Jewell’s firm made on the burgeoning market for vanes but also gravitate to their graceful, unfussy forms. Leaping Stag, Possibly by A.L. Jewell & Company (1852-1867), Waltham, Massachusetts, ca. 1860-1865. Copper, copper tubing, and traces of the original yellow sizing and gilt, 33¾ x 35 x 4¾ inches Courtesy of Jeffrey Tillou Antiques