[Photograph, inscribed]  Figure-Head for the Revenue Steamer Commodore Perry.  Washington, D.C., Anon, 1864.  Albumen photograph, 7” x 11.7” overall, mounted on card and housed in recessed gilt frame.  Several soft creases, 1” x 1” upper right corner lacking, image crisp and clear with only very minor cracking, very good or better.  $1,500.00
Striking albumen image preserving the collaborative work of John Goldsborough Bruff and Pennsylvania artist Charles J. Hamilton who designed and sculpted this impressive figure-head for Commodore Matthew Perry’s iron clad steamer.  Inscribed in the lower left in Bruff’s hand – Figure-Head For The U.S. Revenue Steamer Commodore Perry.  Designed by J. Goldsborough Bruff.  Designing Artist & Draughts^m. Washington, D.C.  Scupltur’d by C. J. Hamilton ~ October 1864.  Following the war the Steamer Perry was stationed at Lake Erie and later sold to the Union Dry Dock Company.  The company re-tooled the ship which then remained in service until 1910 when she was lost off St. Paul, Pribilof Islands in the South Pacific.  Exhaustive research has not revealed the fate of the beautiful figure-head.

Although J.G. Bruff may best be know for his cartographic achievements and his superb Gold Rush Journal, as an artist and architectural designer his enduring desire to capture the American Spirit was here certainly realized in a most formidable and impressive fashion.