Lateral view of the joint between the body and head of the Barnes swan, c. 1890. 1952-192.4
1 2015-09-30T10:39:51-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b 4136 3 This radiograph was produced in the Diagnostic Radiology department at the University of Vermont Medical Center and then manipulated using OsiriX. Samuel T. Barnes (Havre de Grace, Maryland, 1857-1926) Swan Decoy, ca. 1890 Wood, paint, and metal Gift of J. Watson, Jr., Harry H., and Samuel B. Webb, 1952-192.4 plain 2017-08-07T13:57:40-07:00 1952-192.4 Shelburne Museum Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159bThis page has annotations:
- 1 2017-07-09T04:47:51-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b This is the outline of the dowel that holds the neck to the body. There is a metal pin running horizontally through it. Nancie Ravenel 2 plain 2017-07-09T04:48:23-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b
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Swan, 1952-192.4
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A solid confidence decoy made c. 1890 by Samuel Barnes.. It was formerly owned by Joel Barber.
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Collector and author Joel Barber recounted the story of how he acquired the swan made c. 1890 by Havre-de-Grace MD carver Samuel Barnes (1857-1926) in his book Wildfowl Decoys, the first work to consider decoys as works of art. [Barber 1934] Despite Barber’s account, in the 1980s, two decoy scholars questioned the attribution of the swan to Barnes, suggesting that it could be the work of another Havre-de-Grace carver, James Holly (1855-1935). A swan decoy unquestionably attributed to Samuel Barnes and minimally repaired features a neck attached to the body with a dowel so that the head could be removed, and an incised mark, the Roman numeral “II” on the neck shelf [Johnsgard 1976]. The scholars wanted to know if Shelburne’s decoy had a similar mark.
Like the the coot decoy by Barnes the swan is of solid construction, but made of 3 pieces rather than two: the head, the neck, and the body. The lateral radiographic image of the join between neck and body shows that the neck and body were connected with a wood dowel.
Because of numerous metal fasteners added as repairs to securing the joint between the neck and head and in the joint between neck and body, taken from above the neck shelf was fairly inconclusive as far as identifying a mark.
The swan was too large to fit in the medical CT scanner at the UVM Medical Center Hospital, and so VolumeRAD tomosynthesis was used to determine whether or not a maker’s mark was present on the neck shelf, the joint surface between the neck and body.
By choosing appropriate starting and stopping points within the scan, an image of an incised mark was located. The technologist undertook a sweep of 24 projections around the joint between the neck and body in the plane parallel to the neck shelf. Within the sweep, one projection provided a good view of the mark, a Roman numeral “III” on the neck shelf and a view of the top of the dowel that originally secured the neck to the body. This is far more visible than it was in the 2D image, seen above. The projection provides an image of the metal pin, which appears to be a headless rod that stops short of either side of the neck, that secures the neck through the dowel. Because the fastener is in plane with the source, there is no ripple or other distortion in the image.
