Antique 19th Century Bird Oil Painting Peacock and Poultry in Ornate Gilt Cornucopia Frame

A true showstopper. A peacock throws its tail open down the whole right side, and the yard around it erupts. A hawk drops in with its talons out, and a dark bird beats straight up to meet it. Below the fight, a hen keeps her chicks close around a scatter of eggs, a white fantail spreads, a crested Polish hen turns to look. Through a stone doorway in the back, a lone figure stands watching all of it. There's an egg on the ground you won't catch at first, and the little watcher in the doorway you might miss entirely.

This is not a painting in an ordinary frame. It's a carved and gilded cornucopia of shell and scrollwork, its center given over to a full aviary scene. The cornucopia is the ornate Rococo wall form that Spanish makers traditionally built to hold a mirror. Here the mirror is replaced by the birds, and gilt sculpture and painting read as one object rather than a picture with a border. That is what makes it uncommon. You get a painting and a sculptural giltwood object in one.

The scene itself belongs to the great Dutch and Flemish bird tradition, the crowded barnyard showpieces Melchior d'Hondecoeter made famous and that collectors across Europe hung for two centuries. This is a 19th-century painter working in that lineage.

Why We Love It
Some antiques politely sit in a room. This one takes over, in the best possible way.

We love it for the sense of surprise it brings to a space. It is the piece a guest walks toward, then keeps finding new reasons to stay in front of. It has enough history, color, gilt, and personality to anchor an entire wall, but it never feels stiff or overly serious. Put it in an entry, above a mantel, or into a collected salon wall, and it immediately makes everything around it feel more interesting.

Key Features:

• Origin: Spain
• Medium: Oil painted into the center of a carved and gilded giltwood cornucopia
• Period: 19th century
• Dimensions: 10.6" x 13.8"
• Condition: Excellent antique condition. One small spot on the raised scrollwork where the gilding has worn to the red ground beneath. Beyond that single mark, remarkably well preserved for a genuine antique. Please see photos for details.