"Tiger's Head" Engine Panel Painting
date: label: date made
content: 1851
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: In the nineteenth century, volunteer fire companies often commissioned paintings to decorate their hand-pumped fire engines for parades, competitions, and community events. Sometimes framed with elaborate carvings, they adorned the tall air chamber located at the middle or rear of a pumper. The paintings would often feature patriotic, heroic, or allegorical images to associate the volunteer companies with these lofty ideals.
label: Description
content: This panel painting belonged to the Americus Company No. 6 of New York, New York which operated from 1848 to 1865. The panel is unsigned, but it is attributed to Joseph Hoffman Johnson, a founding member of the Americus Company and artist who painted the company’s famous “Big Six” engine. This tiger was the Americus Company’s mascot. William Marcy “Boss” Tweed was elected foreman of the Americus Company, and his influence and connections in New York led to his position of power in Tammany Hall and control over New York’s political system. The Americus Company’s use of the tiger as a mascot eventually led to its use as a symbol for Tweed’s Tammany Hall. The panel’s design is notable for the absence of patriotic or neoclassical imagery so prevalent in engine panel paintings. This painting and its companion (2005.0233.0316) would have adorned either side of the company’s engine.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: classified
content: Fire Fighting
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Fire Fighting and Law Enforcement
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content: Engine Panel Paintings
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Work
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content: Firefighting Collection
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content: Art
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0233.0317
label: accession number
content: 2005.0233
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0233.0317
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting, engine panel
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: oil paint (iamge material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 3/4 in x 14 1/2 in; 42.545 cm x 36.83 cm