Charles Hart Emperor Penguin

Charles Hart (1862-1960) Gloucester, MA, c. 1930 An eighteen-inch high standing penguin with carved eyes and incised detail on an inserted bill. The bird also exhibits the maker's classic, stylized attached wings, and a rare inletted tail. The mortised legs are inserted into the body and extend through the gently chamfered edge base.

A large Hart carving presented to Admiral Byrd, noted South Pole explorer, was exhibited in a Massachusetts decoy exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Old paint with appropriate wear for its age, a vertical age crack and missing feet.

Provenance: Donald Kirson Collection

Literature: Richard Bishop, "American Folk Sculpture," New York, NY, 1985, p. 177, similar carving illustrated.

Provenance

Donald Kirson Collection