Name

American Master Apron

Origin/date 

USA, Alabama, 1825.

Material and dimensions

Hand painted on silk. 48 cm square.

Description

At the top an all-seeing eye with glory rays. Central motif is checkered pavement with three candle holders around a coffin with the bible and a branch of acacia. Above the square and compass with the letter G and the sun, moon and stars. All around are the usual masonic symbols: arch with dove, ladder, beehive, hart...

Left and right are pillars, sun, moon and stars. Below a bible with square and compasses. Signed University Lodge No 80. Willis B. Jove. April 1st. 1825. (Unsure if this name is the painter or the first owner - See Provenance)

Provenance

USA, Stair Galleries, Hudson NY, sale 13th august 2011, lot 211.

According to the seller (letter dated Sept. 1983 attached to the back of the frame) the apron was worn from 1825 onwards by three generations of an Alabama family named Weber.

Literature

This apron is shown in: Weissman, Judith Reiter and Wendy Lavitt: Labours of Love: America’s Textiles and Needlwordk, 1650-1930, New York, Wing Books, 1987, p. 18.

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