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ProvenanceOriginal owner: J. Wilder and heirs. The sign remained in the attic of the tavern until it was sold to the Suzanne Courcier and Robert W. Wilkins’ picker. The sign first entered the market at the New York Winter Antiques show in 2015 but was unsold. Fenimore Art Museum is the third owner.
Artist
Unidentified Artist
(American)
J. Wilder Tavern Sign
Date1816
MediumWood, paint and metal
DimensionsOverall: 38 × 1 3/4 × 39 in. (96.5 × 4.4 × 99.1 cm)
Object numberN0013.2015
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Museum Purchase
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextJoseph Wilder operated The Tavern of the Rising Sun out of the house he built in Hillsboro Center, New Hampshire in 1815. He commissioned this sign the year he opened the tavern, and had the artist depict an eagle and the date 1816 on one side and a rising sun on the other. Joseph passed the tavern on to his son Barrett and daughter Anne who ran it until about 1860, just before the Civil War. Remarkably, the sign was consigned to the attic of the Wilder house at some point prior to the tavern’s closing and remained there until just a few years ago, when it was discovered by an antiques picker.ProvenanceOriginal owner: J. Wilder and heirs. The sign remained in the attic of the tavern until it was sold to the Suzanne Courcier and Robert W. Wilkins’ picker. The sign first entered the market at the New York Winter Antiques show in 2015 but was unsold. Fenimore Art Museum is the third owner.
On View
On view19th century
