Images(10)

Shadow Box, Waxwork and Shellwork

Dateca. 1765

Artist/Maker Abigail Harrison (born 1751)

OriginAmerica, New Jersey or Pennsylvania

MediumMahogany, white pine, tulip-poplar, wax, cotton and/or wool, feathers, metals, cotton, shells, glass, mirror, flat paper, mica, stones, wire, silk with some replacement silks

DimensionsOH: 27 1/2" x OW: 29 1/4" x OD: 12 1/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1960-944,1

DescriptionThe is a square cabinet with an arched top containing a wax and shell work scene. The front of the cabinet has two slightly concave glass panels joined by vertical moldings, with additional moldings around the front edges. Behind the glass is a three-dimensional scene in various media. The scene consists of a large tent in which sits a man, and five standing figures outside the tent. Above the main scene on a ridge are goats, sheep, and an encampment. There is a mountainous landscape abundant with trees, fruit, and flowers of shells, wax, and flat paper. At the bottom right is a grotto with two swans. The sky is made of cotton, wool, and/or silk fibers. Scattered throughout are wax rabbits, sheep, swans, and a dog. To the extreme right is a grotto with a fountain. At the top, arched across the front, is a border of shell flowers.

The royal tent is made of thin cream taffeta edged in thin silver tape. It has kinked silver tassels holding the opening at the sides and top. The pleats of the tent’s top are held with straight pins. The tent is topped with a frieze with a molded wax border and interior of crushed mica. The whole appears to have been applied to printed paper, as a small portion is visible on which can be seen a pink flower and metallic ink. The left interior tent wall is a green taffeta that appears to have faded from pink. The right interior tent wall is cream taffeta. Both are secured with straight pins. The floor of the tent is covered in brocaded light-green taffeta with a floral design consisting of naturalistic bellflowers and white, stylized leaves. The design appears to be 1740s. The interior ceiling of the tent is paper printed in green, pink, and metallic gold in a design of berries and leaves.

The man inside the tent is seated in a large wingback chair/throne made of yellow silk edged in silver tape. The man is wearing yellow silk with a sash across his front and around his hips. The hem of his gown-like garment is edged in kinked silver. He is also wearing a light-blue cape edged in ribbon with black spots in imitation of ermine. He has a puffed yellow cap with a large feather. He is resting his head in his right hand, and his legs are crossed at the ankle. A small wax dog with dark spots is jumping onto his knee.

At the left side of the tent entrance stands a man dressed very similarly to the man inside the tent. His sleeve cuffs are different and he has sheer ribbon wound around his torso. His blue silk hat is round and has a feather and silver trim. He is currently fallen over, revealing thick wire that may have been used to support him.

To the right of the tent entrance stands a guard wearing an olive green taffeta gown-type garment. His sleeve cuffs reach to his elbows and he has a pink sash across his chest and around his hips and a star insignia on his chest. He has a molded wax helmet colored black with crushed red mica. On his helmet are a black plume and gold crest held up with a straight pin. He is holding a spear with a partially copper-leafed head. His hand has been crushed or melted around the spear handle.

Beside the guard in the rear of the assemblage is a woman, presumably the lady-in-waiting to the more elaborate woman in the front. The rear woman wears a cream gown with a stomacher and light-pink petticoat. The gown is held onto the wax figure with straight pins. The gown is trimmed with silver lace. She is wearing a silver headdress with a blue feather and a silver necklace. There is lace trim on her bust, petticoat, and sleeves.

The front woman is wearing a bright pink gown with a cream stomacher and petticoat. She has on a gold headdress with a white feather, and an elaborate silver necklace that also attaches to two brooches on either side of her stomacher. The stomacher is trimmed in gold, and there are gold rosettes on the sleeves. The petticoat is covered in silver trim. Two brocaded silk flowers are visible in the petticoat: one in the middle and one at the bottom. The flower is pink and cream with a green stem and leaves. There is lace trim at her neckline and sleeves. She is wearing two silver bracelets, one of which has turned her wrist green.

The final guard, situated behind the ladies is dressed the same as the previous described guard except for a lace ruffle around his neck.

The grotto at the right has plain and twisted-glass stems standing upright at the edge of the water. The water is made from mirror glass. The grapes and fruits throughout the piece are made of balls of wax formed around very thin wires that are then grouped and wrapped in thread to form the stems. They have paper leaves. The tents are made of parchment and/or paper with silk backs. The shell roses around the top of the picture have silk leaves.

Label TextFamily tradition attributed this remarkably ambitious scene of Judith in the camp of Holofernes to fifteen-year-old Abigail Harrison of New Jersey. In addition to creating needlework projects, some young women assembled cabinets or scenes using shells, fabric scraps, bits of glass, wax figures, paper, and shells. The creation of shadow-boxes was influenced by the popularity of shell grottos and waxwork figures in Britain and the fascination with natural history and gardens.
ProvenanceThe invoice for the cabinet states: "made by Abigail Harrison in the 1760s, in the South Jersey-Philadelphia area. Never out of the original family until purchased by us." The family history that accompanies the piece states that the waxwork was made by Abigail Harrison, a native of New Jersey, in the 1760s. She is said to have made this in her sixteenth year, allowing herself to work on it only before breakfast. The piece was owned by her descendants until 1960. Per a letter written in 1960 by Margaret Gardiner Bell (Mrs. Ernest C. Bell) the shadow box descended from Abigail Harrison Edwards to her son, Samuel Harrison Edwards; to his daughter, Margaret Edwards Gardiner; to her son, Samuel Harrison Gardiner; to his daughter, Margaret Garidner Bell. It was then sold to John S. Walton from whom CWF acquired it in 1960.

HISTORY OF MAKER:
Abigail Harrison was born in 1751 to Samuel Harrison and Abigail Harrison Hinchman Kaign, a widow. Abigail Harrison Hinchman Kaign was the daughter of the wealthy land owning families of John Hinchman and Sarah Harrison. Her first husband, John Kaign, Jr., was a blacksmith from Haddonfield, New Jersey. Samuel was Abigail's uncle. Samuel lived near Gloucester, New Jersey, so the pair presumably married there. Abigail Kaign survived her late husband and died in 1795 at Taunton Iron Works in Burlington County, New Jersey, where her son-in-law, Richard Edwards lived.

Abigail, maker of shadow box, was their only child. Abigail married Richard Edwards, a wealthy merchant from Lumberton, New Jersey. He had a thriving liquor business in Philadelphia and owned a home at 140 East Main Street in Moorestown, New Jersey. He was known to commission furniture by Philadelphia craftsman Thomas Tufts.

Richard and Abigail had 10 children, eight of whom died single. Their son, Samuel, married Martha Heulings, and their daughter, Sarah, married Joseph Collins.

It is not known when Abigail Harrison Edwards died. If she was born in 1751 and the family provenance is correct, she made this shadow-box in 1766.