M.rs Priscilla Cooper.

Date1700-1725

After work by Michael Dahl

Engraver Peter Pelham

OriginEngland

MediumMezzotint engraving on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 14 × 10 in (35.56 × 25.4cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1979-76

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "M.rs Priscilla Cooper./ M. Dahll pinx./ P. Pelham fecit"Label TextMrs. Priscilla Cooepr was wife or daughter of Edward Cooper (or Cowper, d. 1725). She and other family members were the subjects of mezzotint portraits by Peter Pelham after J. Van der Vaart. This print, although engraved by Pelham, credits "M. Dahll, pinx."

Edward Cooper was the leading London printseller from the time of James II until Cooper's death. Cooper's most famous engravers were "Faithorne, Lens, Pelman, Simon (later period), Smith (earlier period), Williams, and others. (The above is drawn from the entry for Edward Cooper in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).

Mrs. Priscilla Cooper is portrayed in a half length portrait, modestly dressed except for a conspicuous hat with flowers in her hair. Her garments are not very skillfully depicted, as the drapery has the look of carved stone.

The print is mounted by the left and top edges to heavy paper, which has a portion of an imprinted seal at the left top corner: "-M CHALONER SM-".ProvenanceDates unknown, probably John Chaloner Smith [1827-1895] (Dublin, Ireland); 1887-1888 [sold, Sotheby’s, March 21, 1887 and April 25, 1888]; before 1979, The Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1979-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).