About the Artwork
Occasions such as marriages, long trips, and births prompted commissions of portrait miniatures. The ring on the top of this locket suggests that its owner might have worn it as a piece of jewelry suspended from a chain or pinned to a blouse or jacket.
This miniature is unsigned but is thought to have been painted by Clarissa Peters, one of the most successful miniature painters active in Boston, Massachusetts, in the mid-1800s. She married another painter of miniatures, Moses B. Russell, in 1839. As was a common practice with married miniaturists, the Russells often worked as a team, with Moses painting adults, especially men, and Clarissa depicting women, girls, and infants.
Portrait Miniature
early 19th - mid 19th century
Clarissa Peters Russell
1809 - 1854
American
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Watercolor on ivory
Overall: 2 3/4 × 2 inches (7 × 5.1 cm)
Miniatures
American Art before 1950
Museum Purchase, Edward E. Rothman Fund
2023.668
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
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Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Clarissa Peters Russell, Portrait Miniature, early 19th - mid 19th century, watercolor on ivory. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Edward E. Rothman Fund, 2023.668.
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