Beaux-arts architectural salvage from Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Institute

Description

This large (approximately 5'4" long, 3'3" tall, and 1'3" thick) sculpture assembled of stamped pieces of heavy sheet copper soldered together once formed part of the great
cheneau or ornamental cresting that ran
above the cornice of the Carnegie Institute.
A detail in the sumptuous expansion of 1907, designed by the renowned firm of Alden and Harlow, to their sightly earlier and more severe structure of 1895, this panel waslinked to several hundred identical units, all of the same grave, heavy female face, perhaps but appropriately Athena, emerging from a shell or perhaps, and again appropriately, the radiant sun of wisdom and enlightenment.
Collectively, they formed a festive crown for Pittsburgh’s reigning cultural institution.
Removed as part of the installation of a new roof in 1950s, all this ambitious copper ornamentation was sold as scrap.
Two comparable panels, salvaged by the Institute, are on permanent display in the Heinz Architectural Center of the Carnegie Museum of Art, but the present example is the only known other survivor.
Whether considered as a stunning piece of sculpture or as an evocative document of one of Pittsburgh’s great buildings, this item would sit handsomely in a scholar’slibrary or in a connoisseur’s garden.
Local pick-up is suggested but packing and shipping charges can be calculated.
Condition: as is.
The item is in the same condition as it was when carefully lowered from the roof of the Carnegie Institute in the presence of the current owner.
The copper oxide surface is the original weathered patina; no attempt has been made to remove or enhance this delicate surface.
There are a few small bent and jagged edges which reflect the actual removal of the piece from its secure placement, but these could easily be adjusted if a more finished appearance were wanted.