Wax Portrait of Queen Charlotte of Great Britain, Attributed to John Flaxman

American portrait miniature by Thomas Story Officer, Woman in a White Gown, Signed "T.S. Officer, Pinxt", The 1830s The American portrait miniature signed by Thomas Story Officer depicts a beautiful young woman, her red hair “Coeffure a la Chinoise”, sitting in a red chair confidently looking out towards the painter and us, the viewers.  She wears a white dress with a pin in the center of her chest.  Based on her style of dress and her hair, we believe this was painted while Officer was in Philadelphia. It is signed to the lower right "T.S. Officer, Pinxt" along at edge. The reverse has a small oval glass Dimensions: 3 inches high x 2 3/16 inches wide x 1/4 inch deep Reference: Thomas S. Officer: Miniature and Portrait Painter, Gardner Library,  Author: Merri Lou Schaumann. Born in Carlisle in 1810, this gifted artist trained in Philadelphia, traveled extensively and won awards for his paintings. In 1872, James Miller McKim wrote a series of reminiscences for the Carlisle Herald newspaper about the places and people of Carlisle in an earlier day. He wrote that “David Smith, a boot and shoemaker, had two sons… one of whom early developed a taste for art and finally devoted himself to miniature painting as a profession. He was a contemporary, and for a while, a rival of Mr. Thomas Officer, though I believe he never reached the celebrity attained by that gifted young artist. Mr. Officer, by the way, was one of the last miniature painters of any eminence produced by this country, the daguerreotype and photographer having come in to sweep away the entire profession.” Thomas Story Officer was born in Carlisle on August 15, 1810, to cabinetmaker John Officer and his second wife Margaret. He trained in Philadelphia with the well-known portrait painter Thomas Sully and began his career there in the 1830s. Officer left Philadelphia occasionally to paint portraits in Mobile, Alabama in 1837, in Richmond, Virginia in 1845, and in New York City from 1846-1849 where he became a member of the National Academy of Design. In 1842, Officer intended to travel to Mexico and needed a passport. He asked Attorney Charles B. Penrose, formerly of Carlisle, to write a letter of recommendation for him. In his letter to Fletcher Webster, Esq., Penrose wrote, “This will be handed to you by Thomas S. Officer, Esq., a friend of mine, and a native artist of Pennsylvania, who is a gentleman of great talents and respectability. Intending to visit Mexico, he wishes to procure passports at the State Department…”  Officer was issued a passport in July 1842. He was described as 30 years old, 5’ 11” with a “full and round forehead, bluish-gray eyes, an ordinary nose, medium mouth, ordinary chin, sallow complexion with an oval face and brown hair.” Officer went to Mexico and later to Australia. In 1854, he opened a studio in Sandridge, Australia, and while there he “entered several oil portraits in the 1854 Melbourne Exhibition preparatory to sending them to the 1855 Paris Exhibition.” Officer left Australia, and in 1855 he settled in San Francisco where he would spend the last years of his life. He set up a portrait painting department in James Johnson’s photographic gallery in San Francisco. In 1857, Officer received a bronze medal for his oil portraits exhibited at The First Industrial Exhibition of the Mechanics’ Institute of San Francisco, as well as awards at several other exhibits in 1858. A short piece in the San Francisco newspaper, Alta, on October 30, 1859, read, “Mr. Thomas S. Officer, the talented portrait painter, lies near to death’s door and is in pecuniary distress. Out of the many to whose pleasure he has contributed by his gay, social manners, as well as by his pleasing artistic productions, may there not be found someone who will extend a helping hand?”  Officer died on December 8, 1859. Almost an entire column in the January 18, 1860 edition of the Carlisle Herald, was devoted to a very long and informative obituary of Officer taken from the Alta, California newspaper. Officer was buried in the now defunct Lone Mountain Cemetery in San Francisco. In 2014, the Cumberland County Historical Society received a bequest of a portrait painted by Thomas Officer from the estate of historian John J. Snyder, Jr. It joined a miniature portrait already a part of the Society’s museum collection in Carlisle, not far from where Officer was born. Notes: The May 28, 1834 edition of the Carlisle Weekly Herald reported that Thomas S. Officer had "...within the last few weeks, taken the portraits of several gentlemen of this borough...Mr. O. is principally self-taught, and although young, already evinced a degree of taste, judgment, and talent..." A short biography of Officer can also be found in Early American Portrait Painters in Miniature by Theodore Bolton, published by F. F. Sherman (New York, 1921). The entire book is one line  Bio. of Officer on page 117. See Officer’s portrait...

Continental Terracotta Plaque, Early 19th Century The large painted plaque depicts a view of the left side torso of a Continental Nobleman wearing the British Order of the Garter...

Superb large English silk and wool portrait, A Mother and Her Four Children, after John Hoppner R.A., circa 1810-20, Within gilt frame. Silk over linen fabric ground, silk floss, worsted wool yarn, Merino wool yarn and oil paint. A remarkable silk picture with painted sky background and each figure with a painted face and hands with the remaining portions of the picture finished in wool. The design comes from a mezzotint after John Hoppner made in the 1790s. John Hoppner specialized in painting mothers and children. The picture depicts a large standing female figure dressed in a white dress and wearing a turban. She stands by two classical columns with her four children in front of her. The youngest child is sitting on the ground playing with her red shoe in her hands with a tambourine by her side. Her elder sister stands behind her. Both girls are dressed in Empire-style muslin dresses...

Massive Staffordshire Pearlware Pottery Figure of Venus, circa 1810 The extremely large figure depicts Venus, Aphrodite of the Classical Greek legend. This model is of great rarity. Venus, is superbly painted, depicted in purple robes with green edging as she rise from the foam of the sea The condition is excellent. Only one other example is known- see below. Dimensions: 24 1/4 inches high x 8 1/2 inches wide x 8 inches deep See: Myrna Schkolne, Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840, Family, Friendship, Play, & Classical Subjects, Vol 4, Page 186, Figure 194.37 from the Collection of Arnold and Barbara Berlin, although this example is plainly decorated with a white dress with scattered flowers and a Greek Key border to the plain base. History of Venus Venus is the Roman goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. She is the equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Venus was born from the foam of the sea after Uranus, the sky god, was castrated by his son Cronus. She was carried to the island of Cythera by seashells and then to Mount Olympus, where she became the wife of Vulcan, the god of fire. Venus in Art Venus has been a popular subject for artists since ancient times. She is often depicted as a beautiful woman, nude or partially clothed, and is often accompanied by symbols of love and beauty, such as doves, roses, and apples. Some of the most famous depictions of Venus include the Venus de Milo, a marble sculpture from the 2nd century BCE, and the Venus of Urbino...

France, circa 1900. An antique French school painting of a noble women on likely paper or animal bone. The painting is housed inside a bronze d'ore frame and accented by purple ena...

A half-length portrait of a young lady, her costume à la Turque and wearing a double strand of large and lustrous pearls. She is deep in somewhat pensive thought, her right hand re...

A small portrait of a woman in a oval bronze frame, 19th century. An oval portrait of a seated woman with a white fabric bodice and blue striped skirt with flowers in the left han...

An antique plaque in the manner of KPM offers hand painted portrait of a young woman on porcelain, seated in giltwood frame, 19th century Measures- 9.5''H x 8''W x 1.25''D