Penmanship Fish, ex. Peter Tillou

Offered is this exuberant penmanship rendering of a fish. Superbly executed in a way that suggests a melding of organic and mechanical. Jules Verne-esque. Inscribed along the bottom by its maker “Struck With a Metallic Pen in 30 Minutes by John J. Shove”. The ends of the inscription are capped with inward-facing eagle’s heads.

The piece was included in a series of bicentennial year exhibitions entitled “Where Liberty Dwells: Works of Art from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Tillou” the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo, the Milwaukee Art Center, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in Utica. It is published as “Exotic Fish” in a catalog of the same name. Label on the reverse is from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts exhibit.

Undated, but mid-19th century and cited as such in the catalog. Serving to reinforce the estimate is the existence of a grave for a “John J. Shove” in the Andersonville National Cemetery, Sumter County, Georgia. The cemetery was formerly known as Fort Sumter and served as a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp. Nearly 13,000 Union soldiers perished in the prison before it was liberated in May of 1865.

Period gilt frame. Archival back board.