Weathervane: Rooster

Dateca. 1890

MediumCopper, copper alloy, and lead with remnants of gilding

DimensionsOverall: 24 3/4 x 22 1/8 x 4 1/2in. (62.9 x 56.2 x 11.4cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1961.800.1

DescriptionA dimensional weather vane in the form of a rooster, the bird consisting of two beaten copper sheets soldered together. The beak is open. Four simple lobes represent the tail and a circular shape the comb. Wing feathers are suggested in relief on the sides. No legs or feet are depicted. A section of hollow pole with a ball on top is also formed of soldered copper sheeting, and it appears to be soldered to the bird (this needs to be double-checked in examination).

Artist unidentified.Label TextThe vane is known to have been used on the steeple of a chapel built in 1890 in West Milton, New Hampshire, the structure having been erected according to the specific bequest of former local resident Lewis Worstor Nute (1820-1888). The chapel was designed in pseudo-medieval style with diamond-paned windows, turrets, and steeply pitched rooflines, and its furnishings included hand-carved oak pews.
Church records include no reference to the source of its rooster weather vane, which is, however, shown atop the steeple in early twentieth-century photographs. Stylistically, the rooster appears closer to European vanes than American ones, but whether it was ordered from a European source or made in America and merely patterned on a European source has not been determined. In 1958, church members substituted a cross for the rooster.
The vane retains sparse remnants of the gilding that once covered it.ProvenanceNute's Chapel, West Milton, NH; to an unidentified man; to the granddaughter of the preceding; to The Stony Point Folk Art Gallery, Stony Point, NY [Note 1].