Carved Charter Oak Framed Patriotic Document

Description:

Carved Charter Oak Framed Patriotic Document, frame carved by Albert Entress (1846-1926),Swiss/Hartford, Connecticut, 1907, incised inscription on the reverse of the frame reads "A. Entress Sculptor for W.F.J. Boardman from wood of the Charter Oak A.D. 1903 and Washington's Residence Mount Vernon," the intricately carved frame depicting several images and symbols related to the organization The Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, framing the 1907 printed and inscribed document extending membership to Cedric Root Boardman, a descendant of Samuel Boardman of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and intermediate ancestors Levi Boardman and Easly Boardman of Connecticut who supported the cause of the Colonies in the Revolutionary War, overall ht. 24, wd. 28 in.



Note: The Charter Oak was an approximately 600 year old white oak tree growing on what the English colonists named Wyllys Hill, in Hartford, Connecticut, before it fell August 21, 1856, from a severe storm. The name "Charter Oak" stems from the local legend in which a cavity within the tree was used in late 1687 as a hiding place for the Connecticut colony's charter from Sir Edmund Andros, the British governor-general over it. Andros was sent by King James II of England to collect each colonies' more liberal and now invalid charter as a symbolic act of the consolidation of several colonies into the Dominion of New England, to take firmer control of them. Andros' arrival in Hartford in late October 1687 was unwelcome. Continuing with prominent tradition, when Andros demanded the document, it was produced, but during an ensuing discussion, the lights were extinguished and the charter was spirited out a window and subsequently hidden in the Oak.


Estimate $1,000-1,500

The frame is made of several segments of the oak joined together. There are several (about 15) unobtrusive shrinkage cracks on some of these segments. These shrinkage cracks which happen in variable humidity conditions do not affect the integrity of the frame. The document within is slightly toned, the gold foil seal has a tear and the color has oxidized.
The following appears in an Entress family genealogy: Albert Entress was born Mar 12, 1844 in Rottenberg Germany and immigrated to Hartford about 1870 and became a well-known sculptor. He carved the figures on the Memorial Arch, on the Capitol building and other places in Hartford, CT. He died Christmas day, 1925.

Keywords