Framed silhouette of gentleman in profile, facing viewer's right. He is perhaps early-to-middle-age years, dressed in high collar and coat. Below is the name "Amos Ellmaker" handwritten in cursive in faded black ink.
Image is cut out of a rectangle of white wove paper, superimposed on a matching piece of black silk and secured with stitches at periphery. There is a window mat of faded marbelized paper, frame is molded walnut.
Same marbelized paper also covers back of frame. Clipping from printed biographical article is pasted to back.
Moderate wear and aging overall. Wove paper is darkened with fold lines and pin holes. Frame is worn with loose joints. Frame backing paper shows wear at corners and was cut to remove artwork, replaced and secured with cellophane tape, now removed except for bottom strip, leaving adhesive residue.
Object ID
P.03.11.01
Notes
According to the Biographical Annals of Lancaster County, Amos Ellmaker (b. 2-2-1787 and d. 11-28-1851) was a man of intellect and attainment. He was grandson of immigrant Leonard Ellmaker (Germany to Earl Twp in 1726) and son of Nathaniel Ellmaker. He attended Princeton College, then law school in Litchfield, Conn. He began practice in Hbg., served as an officer in the War of 1812, later was appointed prosecuting attorney for Dauphin Co., elected to the State House of Representatives, appointed Presiding Judge for the district composed of Dauphin, Lebanon and Schuylkill counties, was later appointed Attorney General of Pa., but resigned in 1821 to move back to Lancaster. Judge Ellmaker was in 1832 a candidate of the anti-Masonic party for Vice-President of the U.S. In 1816, he had married Mary Rachel Elder of Harrisburg. They had six children.
Bookcase composed of two sections. The upper cabinet has two hinged doors that latch at center. The shelving is adjustable and both doors feature 12 oblong-shaped glass panes and mullions. The lower cabinet has two hinged wood doors that latch and lock at the center; each door features a square recessed panel.
Provenance
Thomas Potter
To - William Morris Meredith
To - James Buchanan
To - Harriet Lane Johnston
To - John Newton Lane
To - James Buchanan Lane II
To - Thomasina Thomas Lane
To - James Buchanan Foundation
Thomas Potter - 2nd owner of Wheatland
Sold to - William Morris Meredith for $75
Sold to - James Buchanan for $75
Bequeathed to - Harriet Lane Johnston
Bequeathed to - John Newton Lane, Harriet's nephew
Bequeathed to - James Buchanan Lane II, John N. Lane's son
Bequeathed to - Thomasina Thomas Lane, James B. Lane II's spouse
Watercolor painting of St. Mary's Church on South Prince Street in Lancaster in gilt frame.
Paining shows the Roman Catholic church painted from the street. Three passersby dressed in the style of 1800-1850, pass in front of the stone wall surrounding the church property. Fencing atop wall encircles the church building and adjoining cemetery. Large tall trees from a backdrop to church.
Painting is unsigned.
This is one of at least three very similar paintings. The other two are found in Gerry Lestz's Artists' Album/Lancaster County and another in Carl Drepperd's American Pioneer Arts and Artists. Both Drepperd and Lestz have captions stating the paintings date from about 1835. Likely theses paintings were executed by a number of students or the copied the work of the original artist.
This is similar to version 1.45.84 (loan by Mrs. R. Harcourt Darmstaetter).
Provenance
Purchased from Steven F. Still Antiques, Elizabethtown on Dec. 27, 1998, for $450.00.
Date Range
1835
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
DAC
Storage Wall
Island 5
Storage Cabinet
Unit 42
Storage Shelf
Shelf 2
Storage Drawer
Bin 2-G
Object Name
Painting
Length (cm)
15.24
Length (ft)
0.5
Length (in)
6
Width (cm)
21.59
Width (ft)
0.7083333333
Width (in)
8.5
Dimension Details
Framed: 13.5 inches wide x 11.5 inches
Condition
Good
Condition Date
1999-01-12
Condition Notes
Watercolor mounted on heavy paper backing; margins of backing have moisture stain at bottom right and insect damages across top and right. All paper darkened overall from age and acid, and painting has some foxing across surface.
Water color portrait of a young man on wove paper. The subject depicted in full-length profile, facing to the viewer's left, with right foot in front of left. He has short black hair and is wearing a dark blue coat, white shirt with high collar, blue and white checked vest, dark gray pants and black boots. He is holding a top hat upside-down in his right hand.
The background is dominated by a blue sky with a few clouds, an orange or light brown horizon, blue-green hills and bushes (probably faded green) and brown ground.
According to the sellers, the subject is one of the Reitz (or Ritz) brothers. Catherine Reitz was the great-great grandmother of the seller, Guiles Erisman Costolo. For more info on the provenance see the file.
Artist Jacob Maentel (1763-1863) was an important itinerant portrait painter in watercolor who worked extensively in northwest Lancaster County during the first quarter of the 19th century.
Some horizontal buckling on left side, vertical buckling along top edge, but otherwise in good condition.
Conservation treatment and matting done in Feb. 1989 by CCAHA in Phila. Mat must have later been removed, so this piece was matted and framed by conservator Brian Howard in 1996.
Oil painting of Mrs. Alexander Hood seated on red chair with draped red curtain behind. Her dark brown hair is parted in the center and she is wearing a white covering with ruffles along sides covering her ears. The two wide sashes/ties hang down to her waist. A dainty lace collar piece, unattached, is around her neck with opening in front. She wears a black dress with gathers from a front vertical seam that ends in a point below her waist. Long sleeve visible on her left arm has two sections of gathers on the upper arm. Her left hand rests on her lap.
Artist: Arthur Armstrong, American portrait painter (b.1798-d.1851).
Some crackling overall. Some paint rubbed off above wooden edges. Some fine vertical streaks on woman's dress, left elbow. A small spot on right side of painting above red chair. Canvas nailed to stretcher bars in tact.
Sampler by Sarah Stubbs, a Quaker, in 1810 at 13 years of age. Bleached linen, plain-weave ground; all four sides hemmed with selvage on left side. Decorated with 13 floral and geometric half-medallions at periphery. Maker's name and date stitched within a central floral wreath, in turn flanked by a strand of vining border. Smaller floral motifs scattered within central area. Initials are haphazardly arranged among smaller motifs, some appearing as a list or group of initials. Embroidery done in silk, with various greens, salmon, peach, light blue, dark blue-green and tan.
Half-medallion borders are typical of Quaker samplers. This is an outstanding example of a Quaker sampler, according to Trish Herr. The Stubbs family came from England c. 1718 (Thomas Stubbs) and has a long history in Fulton Twp. Son Daniel (and wife Ruth Gilpin) Stubbs established the family in Lancaster Co. by settling along the Susquehanna River in 1767.
Sarah Stubbs is the granddaughter of Daniel and the daughter of farmer and miller Vincent Stubbs, Sr. (1753-1821) and his wife Priscilla Cooper (1765-1831). Sarah was sixth of 11 children; she married Benjamin Mason, Jr. on May 4, 1820. They had one child, a son, Vincent Mason, who was born circa 1821. Sarah likely died in childbirth.
The many initials appear to be family members. (More information in folder.)
(Written by Wendell Zercher.)
Provenance
Sampler descended through family through donor's great-grandmother, Verlinda Stubbs (1831-1912). Verlinda Stubbs came from a Quaker family, but she married Thomas Ross Neel of Drumore Twp.., who came from a Presbyterian Scots-Irish family. Verlinda was the mother of Charles Neel who was in turn the father of Thomas Ross Neel who was the father of the donor, Mrs. Mariana Neel Akerman.
Darkened with acid burn, especially at periphery. Heavy damage with losses at right edge and moderate damage along top edge. Send to conservator Dottie McCoach, May 2003 and return June 14, 2004. Now mounted in dark brown frame in exhibitable condition.
Pictorial needlework, silk embroidery on linen depicting two females at the right, one in blue, the other in yellow. On the left is a tree on a hillock with some flowers at the base of the trunk. To the left of the tree is the following poem: "margaret m Grosh is my name/ marietta is my station/ heaven is my dwelling Place/ and christ is my salvation/ when i am dead and in my/ grave and all my bones ar/ rotton when this you see/ remember me or I shal/ be forgotton"
Another inscription at the bottom reads "MarGaret Grosh Sampler made in Marietta in the year of our lord/ 1830"
The piece has a rose-beige ribbon border, and is in a period mahogany veneered frame.
The sampler has dark marks over all, brown marks, especially in the upper left are and between the two female figures.
There are losses in the upper left, lower left and upper right corners of the frame and the frame has also split in the upper left and lower right corners.
Sampler stitched by Sarah Stock in 1819 when she was ten years old. All cross stitch. Greens and black still retain color. Other faded or colors may have been white, yellow, tan or fugitive red. Border of flowers with sections of verses both sides at top of piece. Central information in black surrounded by trees, flowers birds, hearts, diamonds, two human figures and what appears to be a building bottom center. Card on back written by Mr. Harry Bochert reads: A Sampler "Wrought by Sarah Stock at the tenth/year of her age/ at Mrs. Streets School/in the year 1819."
Note: The capital letters underscored stitched extra large size in black.
Note: All other letters stitched in reduced capital letter size is black. In the upper left-hand corner she stitched in light brown letters:
"When we devote
Our youth to God
Tis pleasure to his eyes
Life's flower when offered
In the end is no vain sacrifice"
In the upper right-hand corner she stitched in light brown letters;
"Delightful task to inform
The tender mind
I lift up the truth if bent
The tree if inclined."
P.S. I found the sampler in a trunk in the cellar- it had a burnt cigarette hold - a job to decipher it but it is in excellent shape. Nearly 150 years old- what a precious heirloom.
Framed: 19.75 inches wide x 19 inches wide. Brown wood frame.
Condition
Good
Condition Date
2022-06-06
Condition Notes
For a piece more than 200 years old, although fragile, it has been carefully framed and is currently well-protected. Evidence of some liquid stains, piece is brown overall. A small burn hole, mid-bottom; and another hole toward left on top.
Printed Birth & Baptismal Record, Christian Schelly
Description
Printed birth and baptismal certificate, pictorial fame with central text block. Infill and hand coloring attributed to Heinrich Keyser, a school mast working in Warwick Twp.
The pictorial frame consists of eight different plates around a perimeter. The four corners each have a Gospel reference withing a floral oval (two from St. Matthew and two from St. John). The other four prints depict scenes of Christ: is baptism, crucifixion, ascension and his welcoming the children to come to him. Prints are hand-colored.
The central text block is printed in German, in traditional form, under the title: "Geburts und TaufSchein." Infill is executed in black ink in both fraktur-style lettering and script.
Certificate was done for the birth and baptism of Christian Schelly, son of Johannes and Catarina Kericher Schelly, born Dec. 18, 1823 (?) in Rapho Twp. and baptized 1833. At bottom of text is written that Christian was born under the sign of Pisces, under which a tiny pen and ink drawing is executed of two fish. (Written by Wendell Zercher.)
(more info on Schoolmaster Keyser in file)
Provenance
From Strasburg Antique Marker, Strasburg, PA for $245.00. Received on Aug. 11, 2000.
Generally acid-burned overall; extreme burn at edges of top and left side. Two liquid stains in lower text block which bleached the paper. Heavy fold lines have resulted in tears. with a triangular loss at terminus of right fold line. Additional tears at end of left fold line as well as two inches above this; also tear along bottom edge, one inch from right corner. Entire piece is pasted to acidic cardboard backing.
Vase splat chair, back top rail is faced with a crotch-grain mahogony veneer and is a wide concave cross member with rounded ends, a rolled cresting and scroll-cut lower edge. The top is supported by plain rounded uprights that are a continuation of the square rear legs that have a backward saber curve.
The back is open with a wide urn-shaped splat that surmounts the upholstered, rectangular slip seat. The front rail has a conforming shape to the seat and is supported by the front legs that are flat and shaped in a reverse ogee curve with rounded front edges.
