Still Life Composition with Flowers

DatePossibly 1840-1870

MediumWatercolor on wove heavy drawing board

DimensionsPrimary Support: 11 15/16 x 14in. (30.3 x 35.6cm) and Framed: 15 x 17 1/4in.

Credit LineGift of the Moorecock Estate

Object number1957.303.1

DescriptionStenciled composition of several flowers in a heart-shaped, footed vase, including blue morning glories, a yellow-green lily, a pink rose, and small rosebud, plus other, unidentifiable blooms. The vase is pale orange with brown shading.

Artist unidentified.

The 1 11/16-inch flat, mahogany-veneered frame with brass hanging ring at center top is possibly original but heavily refinished.
Label TextThe stylized floral arrangement evidently was created as a pendant to the Folk Art Museum's composition of fruits by the same hand (1957.303.2). Although the stenciling in both is crisply defined and the shading deftly handled, freehand touches show a lack of experience with brushwork. In this floral example, the freehand elements include leaf veins, stems, some small leaves, the interior of the brown-and-yellow blossom at center, and the dotting over the moss rosebud at right. The unusual heart-shaped compote has not been noted in other theorems to date (2005).
ProvenancePer 1985 conversation with Mrs. W. A. Morecock, Sr., 1957.303.1 and its companion piece, 1957.303.2, were last privately owned by Miss Beverly Morecock, who occupied Colonial illiamsburg's Benjamin Waller House on Francis Street.