Mourning Locket1793–18132 1/2 × 1 3/4"Watercolor on ivory, gold bezel, human hairMuseum purchase1981.12.270Full-length figure of woman with brown hair swept into Grecian curls and tendrils at nape of neck wearing Empire gown with ribbon at high waist. (P) right arm raised to signal sailing vessel in distance. (P) left arm rests atop tall anchor, symbolizing Hope. Figure stands beneath rocky precipice in sepia tones and on banks of body of water. reverse with lock of brown hair and depiction fo small child with lamb and verse.15226796Samuel FolwellJewelryThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.Inscribed "Oh mortal child of every art, beware, for one wrong step will mar an age of care" initialled "MA"http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster21759PhiladelphiaPhiladelphiaUnited StatesPennsylvaniaPaintingsPhiladelphiaJewelryAnita Schorsch credits Samuel Folwell with introducing the mourning form, with its sophisticated iconography, into the common artistic vocabulary in America. His are the earliest American paintings specifically executed in the mourning format, although culled from an ancient history of an elaborate system of Christian symbolism. He synthesized the traditional elements associated with the events of Washington's death to create a new level of mourning symbolism: freedom, national virtue, Christian striving. Folwell was a miniaturist, silhouettist, engraver, hairworker, and art teacher. In 1793, he opened an art school in Philadelphia which was conducted jointly with his wife, Ann Elizabeth Folwell.MINIATURES
Samuel Folwell's wife ran a school in Philadelphia for which he painted backgrounds, faces, and embroidery designs for the young ladies' needlework. In 1793 Folwell advertised that he had opened an art school in Philadelphia where "All kinds of Pencil work will be taught, as also Painting upon Sattin, Ivory, Paper..." The obverse of this locket shows that allegorical figure of Hope with an anchor, gesturing toward a departing ship. The reverse contains a plait of brown hair and a depiction of a small child with a lamb.
Elizabeth V. Warren and Stacy C. Hollander, "Mourning Locket: Woman and Ship," Expressions of a New Spirit: Highlights from the Permanent Collection of the Museum of American Folk Art (New York: American Folk Art Museum, 1989), 36http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster21759http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster21759http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster2175917931813 1981 12 27 JewelryAnita Schorsch credits Samuel Folwell with introducing the mourning form, with its sophisticated iconography, into the common artistic vocabulary in America. His are the earliest American paintings specifically executed in the mourning format, although culled from an ancient history of an elaborate system of Christian symbolism. He synthesized the traditional elements associated with the events of Washington's death to create a new level of mourning symbolism: freedom, national virtue, Christian striving. Folwell was a miniaturist, silhouettist, engraver, hairworker, and art teacher. In 1793, he opened an art school in Philadelphia which was conducted jointly with his wife, Ann Elizabeth Folwell.MINIATURES
Samuel Folwell's wife ran a school in Philadelphia for which he painted backgrounds, faces, and embroidery designs for the young ladies' needlework. In 1793 Folwell advertised that he had opened an art school in Philadelphia where "All kinds of Pencil work will be taught, as also Painting upon Sattin, Ivory, Paper..." The obverse of this locket shows that allegorical figure of Hope with an anchor, gesturing toward a departing ship. The reverse contains a plait of brown hair and a depiction of a small child with a lamb.
Elizabeth V. Warren and Stacy C. Hollander, "Mourning Locket: Woman and Ship," Expressions of a New Spirit: Highlights from the Permanent Collection of the Museum of American Folk Art (New York: American Folk Art Museum, 1989), 36