Birth Record and Memorial for William Malsbury

DateProbably 1825

Artist Peale Museum

MediumWatercolor and ink on cut paper

DimensionsPrimary Support: 7 5/8 x 6 7/8in. (19.4 x 17.5cm) and Framed: 9 1/8 x 8 3/16in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958.305.16

DescriptionA bust-length, hollow-cut profile of a man facing left is the focal point of the composition. A piece of black silk behind the cutout enhances the image's legibility. The head appears on a separate piece of paper, the outer edges cut in a coffin shape and held in place within the similarly cut larger sheet by tapes on the reverse. A double watercolor border gives the impression of a frame and helps to obscure the cut edges. An arch encloses the head and also lettering and decorative sprigs that surround it. Simple ornaments fill the upper corners of the rectangular sheet, and across the bottom appear several lines of script.
The 15/16-inch flat mahogany-veneered frame has lighter wood banding and a half-round outer edge and is a modern replacement.
Label TextLikely two different hands were involved in the creation of this piece: the profile cutter and the person who devised its present elaborate setting.

The overall design format and decorative elaboration of the lettering are typical of hand-drawn family records from the early nineteenth century, but this piece is unusual in its inclusion of a hollow-cut profile. The bust-length head has been fashioned from a separate piece of paper, the outer edges cut in a coffin shape and held in place within the similarly cut larger sheet by tapes on the reverse. A double watercolor border gives the impression of a frame and helps to obscure the cut edges. Another unusual aspect is that the piece serves as a memorial. The first two lines of the enclosed lower margin inscription are personal and are written in the first person, possibly indicating that Malsbury himself fashioned the decorative setting or added the lower inscriptions during a final illness. The last two lines are taken from chapter fourteen of the Book of Job, as the writer has indicated.
InscribedIn ink and watercolor surrounding the hollow-cut head are the words "WILLIAM MALSBURY/Son of Caleb. Malsbury. &/Beaulah, his Wife, was born/ February,th,13thAD:1804." Inked script in the lower margin reads: "The morning of my life, is fast passing away. The evening shades are coming on/apace, And I am traveling to A land, from whence I shall not return/Man that is born of a woman is of few day(s), and is full of trouble. He cometh for-/(th li)ke a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not." Below in the lower left corner, is "-ted Sept 3rd= 1825," and in the lower right corner, "Job 14=1=2 verses."
MarkingsA partial blind stamp in the primary support immediately below the head reads"-useum," probably for "Peale Museum."
ProvenanceArthur J. Sussel, Philadelphia, Pa.; purchased at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, NY.