Finding this one made me realize how rare it is to come across an early folk art tinsel painting of a bird--I've since found a few examples out there, notably in the collection of the American Folk Art Museum, but certainly there are hundreds of urns of flowers and fruit for every bird on branch! And what a bird, neck and breast and tail feathers a colorful, scalloped patchwork of shimmery foils showing through the reverse painted glass. And those red berries, maybe cherries, too! There is a bit of loss/aging to the black paint here and there, such that one can see a bit of the silver foil showing through, but I think the marvelousness of the bird more than overshadows them--and, of course ideally one would view this by candlelight, such that the black would fall away into the darkness, and the bird flicker to radiant life!
16 3/8" x 12 1/2", original frame I believe, as found. As noted, some loss/aging to the reverse painted black ground, as documented--noticeable, but very much overshadowed by the rest! In beautiful, I believe original gold gessoed frame with wood back.
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