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Object Timeline

-0001

1916

  • We acquired this object.

2013

2025

  • You found it!

Church Birdcage

This is a Birdcage. It is dated mid-19th century and we acquired it in 1916. Its medium is turned, cut, and stained mahogany, cherry, pine, cut brass, wire, enamel-painted metal. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Bird cage
United States, mid-nineteenth century
Wood, brass, wire
Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt
1916-19-83a,b
Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt acquired a collection of birdcages that they put on display in the original Museum in lower Manhattan. Many are architectural in shape and provide an index of fanciful and realistic building types-from bridges to Swiss chalets to chapels. This particular example was built as a replica of a church in Flushing, New York, which was later torn down, leaving the birdcage as a reminder of the building.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Birdcage In The Form Of A Church.

This object was donated by Eleanor Garnier Hewitt and Sarah Cooper Hewitt. It is credited Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.

Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 79 × 38 × 75.5 cm (31 1/8 × 14 15/16 × 29 3/4 in.)

Cite this object as

Church Birdcage; USA; turned, cut, and stained mahogany, cherry, pine, cut brass, wire, enamel-painted metal; H x W x D: 79 × 38 × 75.5 cm (31 1/8 × 14 15/16 × 29 3/4 in.); Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt; 1916-19-83-a,b

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18187735/ |title=Church Birdcage |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=11 May 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>