Purnell Curles (NC, 1906–1997), Pair of Canvasbacks

Churches Island, North Carolina, circa 1940, carved and painted wood, incised P. Curles on each decoy.

Length 16.25 in.

Former collection of Leonard Willis.

Curles was born and raised on Churches Island and made a living by hunting and fishing the Currituck land. He started carving decoys in the 1940s. He was deeply influenced by Ned Burgess and his birds are often mistaken as being made by him. It is believed that Curles bought heads from Burgess and put them on his bodies.

Original paint, age checks in the bodies, the hen has a neck crack, the drake has a horizontal hair line in the bill.