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No image number on slide
Portrait of a Woman with a Mole on Her Chin
No image number on slide

Portrait of a Woman with a Mole on Her Chin

Dateca. 1815
OriginAmerica, New Jersey (probably)
MediumWatercolor and gouache on wove paper, with laid paper and thread
DimensionsPrimary Support: 8 15/16 x 7 5/8in. (22.7 x 19.4cm); Primary support plus paper sewn to bottom edge: 11 x 7 11/16in. (27.9 x 19.5cm); Composition: 8 1/4 x 7 1/8in. (21 x 18.1cm); and Framed (excluding hanging ring at top): 11 5/8 x 9 5/8 x 7/8in.
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1958.300.27
DescriptionA half-length portrait of a plump, older woman turned slightly towards the viewer's left. She appears to be seated, although no chair is visible. Her hands falls below the lower edge of the composition and are not visible. She wears a black dress with a large white fringed fichu pinned across her chest. She has pale blue-gray eyes and strands of brown hair show beneath the edge of a white ruffled cap that includes a black ribbon tied in a bow on top of head. She has two moles to the right of her mouth and chin. The background is a light gray. The composition is marked off by a thin line of black watercolor, leaving a lower margin reserve that is blank.
The original 1 1/8-inch molded cherry frame is of exposed mortise-and-tenon construction with through pins.
Label TextThis likeness and the Folk Art Museum's accession number 1958.300.18 are attributed to the artist who also created a pair of half- length portraits of members of the Ten Broeck family from the Bayonne, New Jersey, area. The original frames for the Folk Art Museum's pair bear incised Roman numerals, suggesting that they once formed part of a larger set.



InscribedOn the back of the frame, in the middle of the left side, the Roman numeral "V" is incised.
MarkingsA watermark in the primary support, "H & W/ THIRD RIVER", stands for Hopkins and Whiting of the Third River Mill, Passaic, NJ. A second watermark in a separate piece of paper sewn to the image support is cut off so that only about the upper third is visible; the design appears to be a crown atop a bordered ellipse enclosing a figure of Liberty or Justice.
ProvenanceJ. Stuart Halladay and Herrel George Thomas, Sheffield, Mass., Halladay died in 1951, leaving his interest in their jointly-owned collection to his partner, Thomas. Thomas died in 1957, leaving his estate to his sister, Mrs. Albert N. Petterson, who was AARFAM's vendor.