Watercolor on paper, circa 1830, unsigned, laid on a later card and with the edges of the original sheet wrapped around the card, found presented under glass in an antique metal frame.

The young woman is depicted resting an elbow on the back of a fancy chair and holding a book in the other hand. She is dressed in a black gown with puffed sleeves and white lace collar, typical of the early 1830s. A comb and pink flowers are placed in her hair. She wears gold chains at her neck, a gold pocket watch and chains are at her waist, and three gold rings decorate her fingers. She gazes directly at the viewer with large, luminous eyes framed by dark lashes. A border of radiating green lines demarcates the separation of dress and shoulders from the creamy ground of the paper.

Image 6 1/8 x 4.25 in.

This portrait is accompanied by an undated hand-written note identifying the sitter as Delia Allison Davis, who "died before 21 yrs of age." The letter further details that she married Amos Davis, with whom she had a son, Elnathan Hayne Davis.

There is a Mary Allison Davis (May 25, 1809 - January 14, 1838), daughter of Richard Allison & Lettice Neil of Statesville, North Carolina in Iredell County, who
married a Davis with unknown first name as documented in The History of the Alison or Allison Family in Europe and America by Leonard Allison Morrison (Boston: Damrell & Upham, 1893).

Further genealogical research supports the additional family history as documented in the accompanying letter:
Mary Allison Davis (May 25, 1809 - January 14, 1838), married Hayne Davis;
Elnathan Hayne Davis (November 25, 1833 - October 21, 1890), married Mary Williams Pearson (about 1841 - December 12, 1911);
Margaret Williams Davis (August 1859 - December 11, 1933), married William Cole Blackmer (March 6, 1857 - March 5, 1903);
Margaret Brent Blackmer (April 24, 1893 - September 2, 1979), married Dr. Charles Whitehead Woodson (October 30, 1878 - January 17, 1950).

There is a Delia Allison Davis (1862 - March 12, 1864), daughter of Hayne and Mary Davis, buried in the Allison Cemetery in Statesville, North Carolina, which may explain the name confusion.

We wish to thank Sally Gant, Director of Education, Emerita, MESDA, Old Salem Museums and Gardens, for confirming the attribution of this portrait.

Staining, creasing, and rubbing to image; loss to lower right corner; repaired tear at lower left below book; loss to upper right corner; staining and folding to accompanying hand-written note; some bending and brittleness to metal frame.

$1,000 - 3,000