Sarah Moses Levy, miniature portrait, circa 1798

Measures 2 1/8 x 1 5/8 inches. Portrait is painted in watercolor on an ivory support, artist unknown. Framed in a simple burnished bezel case, it has a hair reserve on the rear, which contains a painted memento of a rosebush on an ivory support. One blossom and one bud grow on the bush. The painted ground beneath the bush incorporates small pieces of human hair. Remarkably, Sarah Moses Levy, who poses in a lace cap and collar, wears the miniature of her son, Chapman, the same that is found in this collection. No signatures or inscriptions are visible inside the case.