$1,600
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000
American Furniture, Decorative & Folk Art
Auction: April 19, 2016 11:00:00 AM EDT
ittsburgh, pa, 1815" The bronze plate with incised Roman numerals and decoration, the face bearing Latin inscription, "Fungor officio splendente sole" and further marked with abovementioned name, location and date, all mounted on a wood slab.
11 in. x 11 in.Provenance: From the Estate of Dr. Leroy "Roy" Egan, Sewickley, Pennsylvania.
Major Isaac Craig (1741-1826), a Revolutionary War officer, married Amelia Neville (1763-1849) in 1785 and together they settled in Pittsburgh, then much more a frontier town than an established industrial city (in 1795, Craig, in partnership with James O'Hara, built the first glassworks west of the Alleghenies). Together, the couple had ten children, including John Neville Craig (1793-1870) and notably, Neville B Craig (1787-1863), Pittsburgh historian and former editor of the Pittsburgh Gazette.
A newspaper article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 5, 1915, p. 13 not only speaks of the high regard bestowed upon the Craig Family, but also refers directly to the present sundial: "Taken all in all the Craig family may be considered for three generations among the most distinguished citizens of our county. The old Craig homestead on the island was formerly owned and occupied by Robert Phillips. The widow of Maj. (Isaac) Craig survived until 1848, when the estate was divided among the heirs. Thomas P. Fleeson, a relative, was an old resident of the island. For years he had in the yard of his residence there a sun dial, a family heirloom, which bore the following inscription: "Jno. N. Craig, Pittsburgh, 1815," and the motto, "Fungor Officio, Splendente Sole," freely translated, "While the sun is shining I perform my duty." The Maj. Craig residence on Neville Island was for many years occupied by the late John M. Chaplin as a residence. It is now the site of a manufacturing plant..."