Mr. Pike gilt very beautifully a skull (free of Expense) for the Museum to be marked after Dr. Galls System

Object Status:

Unlocated

Primary Source Reference:

Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 123

Notes:

Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) was the inventor of phrenology.

The Peale Museum's skull probably resembled the 19th-century European phrenological skull pictured here.

Marinus Willett Pike (ca. 1782-1861) was a Philadelphia carver and gilder. He made frames for most of the portraits painted by artist Bass Otis. Thomas Knoles, "The Notebook of Bass Otis, Philadelphisa Portrait Painter," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 103, pt.1 (April 1993): 179-253 / https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44517814.pdf