Oval bust-length portrait of an older man with hazel eyes and gray hair in formal dress, turned and looking to the viewer's left. He wears a white wingtip collar and white knotted tie beneath a black coat embellished with a red and blue lapel pin. Brown background; light is from right. Signed at lower right. Housing includes a shallow convex lens, gold fillet or liner, and case with post-and-ring hanger; case reverse is plain. Hangs in a red velvet-covered display frame fitted to hold eight miniatures, 1989.0343.16-.23.
Artist is C. F. Fox. Miniature is a hand-painted offset lithograph on ivory; image was probably made from a photograph taken of Griggs while governor or attorney general.
Dinner knife, silver-plated steel. Straight blade with rounded tip. Hollow, baluster-shaped handle with decorated in low relief with art nouveau style whiplash curve and foliate decoration. Heavily scratched, discolored, and tarnished, plate is worn.
Engraved on butt in cursive: “W”
Etched on blade: “REED & BARTON”
Stamped on side of handle: “PATAPPLFOR”
The company applied for and was granted several patents for the design and production of flatware ca 1902-1904, none of which are this design.
Maker is Reed & Barton, active ca 1840-present in Taunton, Massachusetts.
Small, Art Nouveau, repoussé chased pentagonal dish with slightly convex, cinquefoil well; no footring. Flared sides and everted rim with downturned edge are segmented by five sinuous ribbons overrun by a wreath of wild roses open at one corner, leaving an empty reserve. No monogram. Underside of well struck incuse with circular mark for "THE VAN BERGH S.P.CO. (arched) / ROCHESTER, NY (curved)" enclosing "QUADRUPLE / PLATE", and "5353" below. From a 7-piece set (one large and six small dishes) for serving bonbons ("sweets") or nuts, 1989.0184.11-.17.
Dinner knife, silver-plated steel. Straight blade with rounded tip and “yankee” style bolster. Flat handle with rounded sides and butt decorated in low relief with art nouveau style whiplash curve and foliate decoration. Heavily scratched and tarnished, plate is worn.
Engraved on butt in cursive: “Campi’s”
Stamped on blade: “REED & BARTON”
“Campi’s Restaurant” is advertised in a January 29, 1900 issue (Volume XVI Issue 12) of The Stanford Daily university newspaper.
The company applied for and was granted several patents for the design and production of flatware ca 1902-1904, none of which are this design.
Maker is Reed & Barton, active ca 1840-present in Taunton, Massachusetts.
Housework has always been physically demanding and time consuming labor. In the 19th century coal and wood burning stoves constantly soiled walls, drapes, and carpets, so that rug beating, along with window and floor washing, would have been a necessary chore. Usually made of wood, rattan, cane, wicker, spring steel or coiled wire, rug beaters were commonly used to beat dust and dirt out of rugs. A rug beater's flexibility depended on the number of woven switches it had in its paddle, a two-switch beater being more flexible than a three- or four-switch one. This nineteenth-century rug beater consists of three rattan switches, bent into a five-loop paddle and wrapped around an iron wire rod handle. Introduced in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, carpet sweepers and vacuum cleaners allowed for higher standards of cleanliness and more frequent cleaning, but lifting heavy vacuums was strenuous work.
Oval half-length portrait of an older girl with blue eyes and brown hair seated against a landscape, her body turned to the viewer's right as she looks forward. Her long curls hang over the puffed blouse and sleeves of her high-necked white dress, which is accented by a light blue sash and gold necklace with aqua stones; a bracelet and ring are on her right hand. Light is from front left. Signed at lower right. Housing includes a convex lens, bead-patterned flat bezel, and flat case with hinged ring hanger attached at top of reverse; case reverse is also engraved "Elizabeth Griggs / Feb 1907" and struck "TIFFANY & C\o" at bottom. Hangs in a red velvet-covered display frame fitted to hold eight miniatures, 1989.0343.16-.23.