Miniature Portrait of a Woman, purportedly Charlotte Pepper Gignilliat (Mrs. James Gignilliat)(1748-1803)

Dateca. 1800

OriginAmerica, Georgia or South Carolina

MediumWatercolor on ivory in a gilded copper alloy case

DimensionsComposition: 2 3/16 x 1 3/4in. (5.6 x 4.4cm) and Framed: 2 1/2 x 2 1/8in.

Credit LineGift of John L. and William W. Gignilliat.

Object number1991-1185,1

DescriptionA bust-length portrait of a middle-aged woman turned slightly towards the viewer's right. She wears a purple empire-style dress with a white lace collar. Her pale brown hair shows beneath a white ruffled cap encircled by two purple ribbons tied in bows on the crown. She has blue eyes and wears a gold choker. The image is enclosed in a gilded copper alloy case.
The red leather-covered case in which the miniature was presented to CWF is not original but appears to be a later (early 19th century) addition. See acc. no. 1991-1185,2.Label TextIn 1973, a family descendent generously made a partial gift of full-scale oil portraits of James Gignilliat (1746-1794) and his wife, Charlotte Pepper Gignilliat (1748-1803). In 1991, other family members followed up with gifts of two miniature portraits that they believed represented the same two subjects.

Henry Benbridge (1743-1812) painted the full-scale oil portraits and the miniature of James. He probably painted a corresponding miniature of Charlotte at the same time, but her miniature has never been located.

Family descendants, however, possessed this miniature, done about twenty-five years later by a different artist and believed by them to represent Charlotte. Their belief may be correct, although usually portraitists recorded eye color carefully --- and Benbridge's oil of Charlotte clearly shows a brown-eyed woman, whereas this charming little watercolor shows a blue-eyed one, thus raising questions about the traditional identification.

Mark(s)See the photocopy in the object file for an image of the paper backing the ivory, which is press-printed with wording reading: "WILLIAM [missing]/WORKING JEW[missing]/20,/RED CROSS SQ/ALDERSGATE ST".ProvenanceDescended in Gignilliat family with half-length portraits of James and Charlotte Gignilliat (acc. nos.1973-216 and 1973-217).