Update Our ticketing, donations, and membership sales portal is down for scheduled maintenance on the afternoon of 4/11.
Carved in the form of a yellow-legs shorebird; the wings are carved in relief, it has a long peg bill and glass eyes, and is painted in shades of gray and black to suggest the natural coloring of the bird. Being a stick-up decoy, it has a hole in its underside and a hole at its tail to be strung together. The stick looks to be original.
decoys
carving (processes)
painting (coating)
wood (plant material)
Decoy
In Cherished Possessions 2003-2005: The Littles loved decoys, which, when they began collecting them in the 1940s, were not the collectibles that they are today. Nina wrote, there is a indefinable quality inherent in the pose and the expression of some decoys that endows them with comical individuality and this, together with original paint, is what attracts us rather than date, rarity of maker, or conventional elements of design.
On paper label inscribed in ink on the underside: yellow/ legs--/ Conn.
Original to Cogswell's Grant (Essex, Mass.),
Unknown
New England; Long Island
14 x 11 3/4 x 3 (HxWxD) (inches)
Gift of Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little
1991.855
Connecticut (United States)
Probably
Title Stick-up decoy Accession Number 1991.732
Historic New England is committed to implementing reparative language description for existing collections and creating respectful and inclusive language description for new collections. If you encounter language in Historic England's Collections Access Portal that is harmful or offensive, or you find materials that would benefit from a content warning, please contact [email protected].
Sign up to our newsletter for our latest news and events
