Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
September 1779
Primary Source Reference:
Du Simitière Memorandum Books, Library of Congress, fol. 47r
Additional Source Text:
"NB I have fixed in a ground of black velvet in a round black frame with the inner moulding gilt & covered with a glass of the same sort & Size with a likeness in black lead of Mons. Gerard. form of a medal."
Notes:
This object may have been the same as the example pictured here from the Huntington Library, described as "Portrait Medallion of Benjamin Franklin; Maker: Sevres Porcelain Manufactory; Date: ca. 1778-1800; Dimensions: 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 3/8 in. (8.9 x 8.9 x 1 cm.); Medium: unglazed and glazed hard-paste biscuit porcelain, gilding; Item no. 61.2." There is a similar relief bust in the British Museum (Museum number 1931,1019.21.CR) / https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1931-1019-21-CR but its production date is given as ca. 1791-1850.
The donor was Joseph Wharton (1733/34–1816) of Philadelphia, a Quaker merchant who suffered large losses in the American Revolution. He lived in Germantown and is said to have had unusual attainments in classical learning.
