ATTRIBUTED TO THE EXOTIC SCENERY ARTIST, CIRCA 1820

Among the more vibrant practitioners of fraktur were members of a Protestant sect called the Schwenkfelders and like other Pennsylvania Germans, the Schwenkfelders brought with them the old-country custom of illuminating documents with decorative writing and drawings as seen in the work offered here. Along with related examples featuring a similar bird and Eastern cityscape, the fraktur offered here is attributed to an artist known as the Exotic Scenery artist, who was active in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania from c.1817 to c.1830. For similar examples, see Pook & Pook, Downington, Pennsylvania, 10-11 July 2020, Lisa Minardi, Drawn with Spirit (2015) and Mary Jane Lederach Hershey, This Teaching I Present (2003).