The O'Brien English Pintail Hen by John English (1848-1915)

Lot 391

About Seller

20 Winter Street
Pembroke, MA 02359
United States

Founded in 2005, Copley Fine Art Auctions is a boutique auction house specializing in antique decoys and American, sporting, and wildlife paintings. Over the course of the last two decades, the firm has set auction records for not only individual decoy makers, but also entire carving regions. Copley...Read more

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About Auction

The Winter Sale 2026, Day 2 by Copley Fine Art Auctions

Live

The Winter Sale 2026, Day 2

By Copley Fine Art Auctions

Feb 21, 2026

Set Reminder 2026-02-21 10:00:00 2026-02-21 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Winter Sale 2026, Day 2 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/copley/the-winter-sale-2026-day-2-22164 Lots 301-368 Copley Fine Art Auctions cinnie@copleyart.com

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Lot Description

The O'Brien English Pintail Hen
John English (1848-1915)
Florence, NJ, c. 1880
15 3/4 in. long

This is among the finest Delaware River pintail decoys known, showing the region's premier maker at the height of his abilities. It hails from the collection of Donal C. O'Brien Jr., who also owned the record-setting rigmate, the singular, exalted English Pintail Drake.

Authors Huster and Knight describe this exact decoy in "Floating Sculpture" as a "rare pintail hen in winter plumage made by John English." They also chose a painting of an English pintail hen as the front dust-jacket feature of their book. This decoy has highly refined form and carving detail, including raised "V" wing tips and layered tail feathers. The brushwork complements the sculpture, with echoing "V" feathering and fine details from head to tail.

Donal C. O'Brien's English pintail drake and hen together show a design foresight of the maker that has not been seen elsewhere. As this hen is dominated by the "V" shape, the drake shows a series of clean "S" curves through its form and paint design. A testament to this hen's importance, the drake that it was paired with is one of the Delaware River's most iconic carvings and holds the auction record for the entire region.
Excellent original paint with even gunning wear, old gunning darkening to tail edge chips. Line wrap rub to left shoulder and minor wear to lower right breast.

Provenance: Donal C. O'Brien Jr. Collection
Bruce Williams Collection
Matt Geis Collection

Literature: Harrison Huster and Doug Knight, "Floating Sculpture: The Decoys of the Delaware River," Spanish Fork, UT, 1982, front cover has a stylized illustration of an English pintail hen, p. 54, exact decoy illustrated. Joe Engers, ed., "The Great Book of Wildfowl Decoys," San Diego, CA, 1990, p. 127, exact decoy illustrated.

Condition

Please refer to the description; if you have additional questions, email colin@copleyart.com.
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