The two-headed eagle, used symbolically for thousands of years, served as the emblem of the Austrian Empire after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and was the coat of arms of the German Confederation. This stylized version resembles imagery commonly found in Pennsylvania German folk art, especially nineteenth-century fraktur drawings.

Lee Kogan, "Two-headed Eagle with Corner Motifs," FOILED: Tinsel Painting in America (New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2013), 48