Large Antique Dummy Board Pair | Painted Wood Urn Topiary Cutouts | Primitive Sculpture

Details

Description

A pair of matching dummy board urns with foliage. The exact date of creation is unknown, but I believe these … Read more A pair of matching dummy board urns with foliage. The exact date of creation is unknown, but I believe these to be antique. Boards like this pair, which were popular from the 17th through the 19th century, were often set into an open fireplace through the summer months, so an empty hearth would look full.

Based on my research, I believe it is rare to find a matching pair of dummy boards like these. You'll often find single dummy boards painted with foliage, or pairs of human subject boards, but not two of the same urns with foliage. I haven't found anything quite like these in my research.

Exact date of creation is unknown. Date of creation added to listing is an estimate only.

Provenance:

From the Moss Acre Estate, Penobscot Bay, Maine, sold by John McInnis Auctioneers. Moss Acre was the home of Polly Porter and her partner Mary "Molly" Dewson, who was instrumental in Franklin D. Roosevelt's campaigns. Dewson used Moss Acre as a summer retreat, where she, Polly, and other political figures — including Eleanor Roosevelt — would gather to work on social reform and women's rights. The Bourne family, of the New Bedford Bournes, a prominent 19th-century whaling family, later took up residency. The estate sale offered a window onto nearly 140 years of New England history: early Asian porcelain, Arts and Crafts, silver, antique furnishings, artwork, Continental pieces, a curated session of books, and much more. These urns came out of that house. See less