Important 1787 Early American Folk Art Watercolor

Updated September 10, 2026

– "Horace" the Bull – Signed J.B. Bordley with Extensive Handwritten Provenance/Pedigree on Reverse. An extraordinary piece of early American folk art and agricultural history. This original late-18th-century mixed-media work (watercolor, ink, and wash on paper) depicts a historic prize bull named "Horace." The front of the work is signed and dated in red script in the lower left corner: "Bordley 1787".The reverse features a highly detailed, hand-inked 18th-century document affixed to the backing. This text provides a comprehensive pedigree and description of the animal, linking it directly to prominent colonial families and the birth of American cattle breeding. Full Transcript of the Reverse Inscription.(EVERY WORD MAY NOT BE COMPLETELY ACCURATE BECAUSE THE INSCRIPTION IS A LITTLE HARD TO READ IN CERTAIN SPOTS) :*"About the year 1772 Benedict Calvert Esq. of Prince Georges County, Maryland, imported white Cattle from England, of a breed the best he could procure. Two years since Mr. Horace Rod [Rodney] presented me the Bull, from which this is a Drawing, A Country Bull of the same Breed bred on Potomac, on his Foot, the 246 2/3 Pieces of Eight vold [valued] on Horace.This Bull (Horace), is of a most excellently mild Disposition, though very active and powerful — He is very hardy & blowing, a yellow thin (not white) but with short hair all over except his ears, thighs, & flanks which are red — a common mark of this Breed, even from very country bred Cows on Black Cattle.In Devonsh: all the Cattle of Tinian (?) were less than our Cows. All the Cattle of the Ukraine are of one Color, viz. What we call the Crown — the Bull is the Past in Roles (?) — For more on for the general Meat & furnishing of Milk, than the Devonsh: or Dutch Breed; but whether this was bred of the Devonsh: or Dutch Breed; or whether it be what is called Crown, I only guess.*J.B.B.

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