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DS1996-0813
Certificate: "A Reward of Merit Presented To Miss E. Dennis."
DS1996-0813

Certificate: "A Reward of Merit Presented To Miss E. Dennis."

Date1805
Artist/Maker Richard Phillips
Owned by Elizabeth Dennis
OriginAmerica, Maryland, Baltimore
MediumGilt and paint with ink on the reverse of glass in frame of gilt and gesso on wood.
Dimensions7 5/8" x 6 1/2"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1996-69,A&B
DescriptionThis is a framed reward of merit entitled: "A Reward of Merit presented to E(lizabeth) Dennis from school of Decourt & Baconais, 1805." An advertising label on the back reads: "INVENTOR OF WRITING AND/ Ornamental/Gilding with BURNISHED GOLD on Glass."
Label TextElizabeth Dennis's education continued at the Young Ladies Academy of Mrs. Decourt & Louis Baconais. In 1803, the academy was located on Pratt Street where the teachers offered sewing, embroidery of all kinds, drawing, painting, and dancing, in addition to arithmetic and English. Elizabeth's reward of merit from the school indicates that she was "2nd Class of Arithmetic" and "2nd of English." The reward may have proudly hung in the best room of the Dennis's home for all to see and admire.


Richard Phillips painted and framed the reward. His advertising label on the back boasts "INVENTOR OF WRITING AND/ Ornamental/Gilding with BURNISHED GOLD on Glass." Phillips worked as a framer and gilder in Baltimore before moving to Norfolk, Virginia, early in the nineteenth century.


Inscribed"A/ Reward of Merit,/ Presented,/ To/ E.[lizabeth] Dennis./ By Mrs. Decourt & Baconais./ 1805."
MarkingsAn advertising label on the back reads: "INVENTOR OF WRITING AND/ Ornamental/Gilding with BURNISHED GOLD on Glass."