Masonic Apron

Dateca. 1815

OriginAmerica, West Virginia, Monroe County

MediumPaint, applied gold, and localized varnish on silk with silk ribbon and fringe and cotton or linen backing (material identification by eye)

DimensionsOH w/ fringe: 16" x OW w/ fringe: 19"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2022-65

DescriptionThis is a Masonic apron consisting of a rounded square shape of white silk with Masonic symbols painted in green, pink, brown/black, and red with applied gold and localized varnish. At the top of the apron is a small faux flap with a pleated pink silk ribbon on the bottom edge. Centered on the apron flap is an all-seeing eye. Below the flap are the arms of the Antient Grand Lodge/Royal Arch Masonry. Quartered in the shield are left top: the Lion; left bottom: the Man; right top: the Ox; and right bottom: the spread Eagle. Flanking the arms are winged half man/half hooved animal figures (possibly winged fauns or satyrs?). The apron is trimmed in a pleated pink silk ribbon at sides and bottom, and a flat ribbon at top. It is edged with 1 3/4-2" wide pink silk fringe on sides and bottom. The apron strings are pink ribbons approximately 33" long and 3/8" wide.
Faux flap: OH: 4"
Gathered ribbon: OW: 3/4"
Label TextMasonic aprons, such as this one owned by a member of the Dickson Family of Monroe County, Virginia (now West Virginia), were an important element of the fraternal regalia of the society of Freemasonry. They were worn at Masonic ceremonies. Based on the protective leather aprons worn by stonemasons of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, early nineteenth-centuries ones were often ornately decorated in paint, print, or embroidery with symbolic designs.

The Dickson Family were members of the Greenbrier Lodge #42 A. F. & A. M., which was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Virginia in Lewisburg, Virginia (now West Virginia) on December 5, 1796. It is the oldest Masonic lodge west of the Allegheny Mountains.
ProvenanceThe former owner provided the following history:
"from the Dickson family of Sink's Grove, WV. The Dickson were members of the Greenbrier Lodge #42 A. F. & A. M. which was chartered at Lewisburg, WV on December 5, 1796."