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Lot 323A
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Two American Carved Wood Bird Decoys - Folk Art, J.C. Parker
Two American Carved Wood Bird Decoys - Folk Art, J.C. Parker
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Jay C. Parker (American, 1882-1967). Two wooden decoy birds. One signed and dated 1942 on underside of base. A pair of hand-carved wooden shorebird decoys, each lifted on slender wire legs that splay into delicately wrought feet, by the New Jersey bayman and folk artist Jay C. Parker. The larger faces forward in an alert, upright stance, head and beak thrust ahead, its body washed in mottled ochre and umber to mimic dappled plumage, the folded wing incised with crisp feather detail. Its smaller companion bends its head back beneath one wing, beak tucked to the breast in a preening gesture that lends the carving an intimate, lifelike calm. Both retain traces of original paint over a softly weathered surface. One is signed and dated 1942 on the underside of its base. More sculptural than utilitarian, they belong to the celebrated American tradition of decoy carving prized as folk sculpture. Size of larger: 2.2" W x 7" H x 10.1" D (5.6 cm W x 17.8 cm H x 25.7 cm D).

Jay C. Parker (1882-1967) lived his whole life in Parkertown on the New Jersey shore, descended from a Lincolnshire family that settled the area in 1721. He was a bayman in the fullest sense: sailor, clammer, oysterman, poet, politician, and Beach Haven's first lifeguard, who filled journals and photographs with a chronicle of Barnegat Bay life now treasured by the Barnegat Bay Decoy and Baymen's Museum. Self-taught, he carved everything from mergansers to flamingos with a naturalist's eye, insisting "you're not going to fool live birds with clumsy-made imitations" and working from real wings of "birds long out of this world." Henry Charlton Beck called him "one of the last of the New Jersey jackknife magicians"; in later years arthritis forced him to slide the penknife into his already-curled fingers. Recognition came late, with an Audubon Society benefit auction in 1963 and an exhibition at the 1964 New York World's Fair. Shorebird decoys like these, once set on the flats to lure plover and yellowlegs, fell from practical use after such hunting was curtailed early in the twentieth century, leaving the finest carvings to be valued purely as expressive sculpture.

Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection, acquired in May 2026 via Simpson Galleries, LLC, Houston, Texas, USA; ex-collection of Anne Schlumberger Brown Management Trust, Houston, Texas, USA

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Item # 203358

  • Condition: Fair. Larger is missing beak with chips to tips of wings, top of head, and sides of wings. More petite is possibly missing eye inlays. Both have light surface wear and patina, but, otherwise, good remaining detail. Old collection label on underside of larger. More petite is signed and dated on underside of base.

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by Artemis Fine Arts
June 25, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Artemis Fine Arts

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