Research:
Of verdigris bronze and copper. Each in the form of a great horned owl with naturalistic modeling and detailing. Originally electrified; two red glass eyes present, but not fitted. Some old repairs.
These remarkable, over-lifesize bronze sculptures of great horned owls, notable for their scale and detailed modeling, possess the additional, highly unusual aspect in their fabrication of bearing red glass eyes that were originally an early example of electrification. Based on their subject matter and technical design, a strong candidate for their original ownership is James Gordon Bennett, Jr. (1841–1918), American businessman and publisher of the New York Herald, who had a lifelong reverence for this bird and commissioned owl statues with illuminated eyes, and owl-themed statuary for all of his residences.
Owls have featured in mythology, art, and decoration from the earliest civilizations in the form of paintings, pottery, metalwork and mosaic. Revived interest in the classical world and its symbolism in the modern era manifested in all manner of fine furnishings by the leading designers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who took a scholarly approach to their work and created remarkable objects incorporating the owl, a symbol of wisdom and philosophy.
Full research report available on request.