Rush is recognized today as one of this country's first portrait sculptors as well as a leading wood-carver and gilder in the vibrant artisan community of early-nineteenth-century Philadelphia. This monumental gilded eagle, with its fluid and energetic outline, reveals a masterful command of the medium and has an impeccably documented provenance. Completed between 1809 and 1811, it was commissioned by Saint John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, to surmount the sounding board above the pulpit in its newly constructed building. The bird's open beak contains a red-painted iron tongue, from which a long iron chain was suspended to support the sounding board.

In 1847 the eagle was removed from Saint John's and installed in the Assembly Room of Independence Hall, where it remained until 1914. In its new location, near the Liberty Bell and above Rush's wood statue of George Washington, its symbolism changed from attribute of the commissioning church's patron saint to icon of American patriotism and independence. This magnificent object is carved in Rush's distinctive style and is just one of two eagles firmly attributed to him. It is the first work by this seminal artist of the early Republic to enter the Metropolitan's collection.