Fire Bucket, "Jonas White"

unknown · 19th century

This bucket, which belonged to Jonas White, is dated 1803 and is painted with the image of a sun. This design is known in heraldry as “the sun in his splendour”: it consists of a disc, drawn as a gentle, smiling face, surrounded by a series of alternate straight and wavy rays. The sun may symbolize a variety of things, such as enlightenment, knowledge, prosperity, greatness and eternal glory, or rebirth and regeneration. The name “Sun Fire Company” was fairly common in nineteenth-century America, as volunteer firefighters wanted to clothe themselves in symbols that would appeal to their neighbors and supporters, and they were eager to appropriate the qualities typically associated with the sun. Jonas White may have belonged to a Sun Fire Company, or he may have chosen the sun as a decorative symbol for his bucket simply because of its associations or because it was featured on his family crest.