Martha J Cornwell American Arts & Crafts Glazed Terracotta Elephant Sculpture

Details

Description

A fine early 20th century sculpture of an elephant.

Attributed to Martha Jackson Cornwell.

Depicting a stoutly modeled elephant on … Read more A fine early 20th century sculpture of an elephant.

Attributed to Martha Jackson Cornwell.

Depicting a stoutly modeled elephant on an integral plinth with a blanket draped across its back and an Indian headdress or harness across its forehead.

Decorated in white, blue, and green glazes on a terracotta body and with inset beads or pearls to the elephant's head and forehead.

Cornwell was a student of Kenyon Cox, Arthur Dow, and Augustus Saint Gaudens at the Art League in New York City at the end of the 19th Century. She was subsequently an assistant to St. Gaudens for a decade and a half on his Shaw Memorial in Boston.

All in all, simply a wonderful, unique sculpture from one of America's important female sculptors of the early 20th Century!

Date:
Early 20th Century

Overall Condition:
It is in overall fair, as-pictured, used estate condition.

Condition Details:
With some losses to the blanket edges and the top of the elephant's shoulder, there are glaze pops & losses throughout, obvious oxidation (particularly visible on the white), some loss to the apparent cold-painted enamels in the harness, and chips & fritting to the edges. Otherwise, there are some fine & light surface scratches and other signs of expected light wear consistent with age.

Maker:
Martha J. Cornwell

Marks:
The base bears a antique label that reads "Miss Martha J. Cornwell / West Chester Penna. / an ineligible block of text followed by "$65".

Measurements:
Length: ca. 7 1/8 in.
Width: ca. 3 1/8 in.
Height: ca. 5 7/8 in.

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