Images(2)

Puzzle Purse Love Token

Date1830-1832 (probably)

Possibly by John Pittenger Van Doren (1810 - 1845)

OriginAmerica, New Jersey

MediumWatercolor and ink on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary Support: 12 1/2 x 12 3/8in. (31.8 x 31.4cm) and Framed: 16 x 16 x 3/4in.

Credit LineGift of Marvin (Joe) and Nancy Stone

Object number2009.305.1

DescriptionA double-sided love token, meant to be folded, forming its own "envelope," then unfolded by the recipient and viewed/read in a certain sequence. Some square sections of the sheet are entirely filled with designs, others entirely bare. Motifs include flowers and foliage, fish, birds, dogs, a fox (or perhaps a reddish dog), human figures and, not surprisingly, hearts. The latter appear variously, sometimes two together.

Artist unidentified.

The flat, stained, 15/16-inch frame is a modern replacement holding the object sandwiched between two pieces of glass.
Label TextPuzzle purses were double-sided folded love tokens. The "purse" was presented with the corners folded in to form an envelope. As the purse was opened, its inscribed verses were revealed and sometimes special pictures as well.

The maker named his intended recipient on this token ("Mary Ann Dilts") and provided her 29 November 1809 birth date. These data would seem to confirm the recipient as Mary Ann Dilts, the eldest child of Henry and Catherine Young Dilts of Clover Hill, New Jersey, who, on 12 September 1832, married John Pittenger Van Doren (1810-1845), a farmer of South Branch, New Jersey. This suggests --- but cannot confirm --- that John Pittenger Van Doren made the love token. At least four children were born to John and Mary Ann Dilts Van Doren. Her death date has not yet been determined.
InscribedThe double-sided work bears fold lines indicating that it was once folded into a square about 4-inches on a side. Most of the resulting, unfolded squares bear inscriptions or pictures, but on side A, squares 2, 4, 6, and 8 were left blank. For cataloguing purposes, the sides were assigned "A" and "B" designations and, on each side, the individual squares were designated 1-9, reading from left to right, top to bottom. Transcriptions are given here in the order in which the writer intended them to be read, not according to arbitrary cataloguing numbering.

Side A, square 1: "1/A heart my dear I present to you,/A heart that is both firm and true"
Side A, square 9: "2/A heart that's not inclin'd to join,/To any other heart but thine,"
Side A, square 3: "3/Grant me thy love my dearest dear/And ease my heart of all its care"
Side A, square 1: "4/This I my dear have sent to thee,/To shew how firm my love should be"
Side B, square 6: "5/My dearest dear and blest divine,/I have pictur'd here your heart and mine"
Side B, square 8: "6/But Cupid with his cruel dart,/Hath deeply pierc'd my tender heart,"
Side B, square 4: "7/And hath between us set a cross,/Which makes me to lament my loss,"
Side B, square 2: "8/But I am in hopes when that is gone/That both our hearts will be in one"
Side B, square 5: "9/This faithful heart with smiles receive,/Alone this heart is thine/10/In fond return thy heart then give,/And bless thy Valentine,/11/O Yield to love thy gentle breasts,/In Hymen's raptures join,/12/And then shall every day be blest,/Like this of Valentine."

Included in Side B, square 2, is: "Mary Ann Dilts, born,/Nov. 29th A. D. 1809."

MarkingsNo watermark found (but the work has not been unframed for close inspection as of 12/28/2006).
ProvenanceNo certain provenance prior to CW's source (Marvin and Nancy Stone) has been documented. The piece may have been one that the Stones acquired through his aunt and uncle, Catherine and Bradford Clarke, who were antiques dealers on Cape Cod, Mass.