AFA 20th Anniversary

20th Anniversary 112 www.afamag.com |  www.incollect.com represents the important artistic and religious traditions of the Germans settling in eastern Pennsylvania in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The collection includes birth and baptismal certificates, as well as Vorschriften (writing exercises). A major strength is that the majority of the collection is either signed by or can be attributed to a specific artist (Fig. 10). Paintings were purchased mainly for their historica l impor tance and to enhance the decorative arts objects. The true masterpieces are the John Singleton Copley portraits of Josiah Quincy (Fig. 11) and John Bee Holmes (see figure 7). Pennsylvania masterpieces include one by Charles Hofmann of the Montgomery County almshouse and one by Louis Mader of the Berks County almshouse. Three Paul Revere prints, The Bloody Massacre , A View of the Year 1765 , and A Vi ew of Pa r t of Bost on in New Engl and complement three pieces of Paul Revere silver, one by the father, two by the son. The primary focus of the silver collection, on permanent deposit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is Philadelphia-made pieces. There are also severa l examples of the work of New York silversmiths, such as Myer Myers, Henricus Boelen, John Hastier, Thomas Hammersley, and a wonder f u l brandywine bowl by Benjamin Wynkoop (Fig. 12). The ceramics collection consists of pieces made abroad for the American market and pieces made on American soil. Chinese export porcelain is the la rgest categor y of ceramic s in the collection, with examples of various forms showing state and family coats-of-arms, personal insignias, and decorative motifs such as ships, and eagles, among others. Two of the Foundation’s most highly prized objects are the earliest documented American car ved and decorated whale teeth from the whaleship Susan , currently on loan to Mystic Seaport Museum. Other scrimshaw forms include swifts, jagging wheels, toys, watch holders, canes, candlesticks, busks, baskets, and boxes. The Foundat ion’s book and document collection, housed at Wesleyan University, consists of approximately one thousand documents and manuscripts and three hundred books and pamphlets. The primary emphasis is on the years Fig. 10: Religious text, Heinrich Engelhard, active c. 1819–1836, Berks County, Penn., 1822. Watercolor and ink on paper, 13 x 16¼ inches. Fig. 11: Portrait of Josiah Quincy, John Singleton Copley (1738–1815), Boston, Mass., ca. 1767. Oil on canvas, 34¾ x 28 inches.