Plate 12: From the Portfolio "Folk Art of Rural Pennsylvania" c. 1939

This print from a baptismal certificate, rendered in 1841, shows the enduring power of symbols in folk art. Here, we see a potted plant flanked by two birds. Birds, across cultures, often represent the soul's journey or divine messengers. They have appeared from ancient Egyptian art to medieval tapestries, embodying freedom, spirituality, and transformation. The potted plant as an enclosed garden evokes images of paradise and spiritual nurturing, a symbolic safe-guarding of new life, especially appropriate for a baptism. Consider how the bird motif flits through art history, sometimes a symbol of hope, other times a harbinger of change. Its recurrence speaks to a collective, subconscious yearning for transcendence. Its symbolic persistence reveals how deeply embedded such images are in our shared cultural memory, echoing through time, taking on new life with each incarnation.