Eliza Law Rogers
This miniature depicts Eliza "Rosebud" Law Rogers, the only child of Martha Washington's granddaughter, Eliza Parke Custis, and Thomas Law. Widely admired in Washington, D.C. society and doted on by her mother, her early death at the age of 25 was a great blow to the family. This miniature may have been painted about the time of Eliza's marriage in 1817 to Baltimore lawyer Lloyd N. Rogers, and captures her youthful beauty in full bloom. The reverse features five carefully preserved curls of hair, likely from various members of the Custis and Law families.
Gilded copper case with fixed single loop; reverse consists of a central oval bezel with five curls of varying shades of blond and brown hair, each tied with gold wrapped thread, arranged on top of a white glass background above an embossed metal foil; the central bezel is surrounded by a stamped and pierced gilt border with a repeating design of fleur-de-lys below arches separated by darts; the outer border of blue glass is mounted on top of an embossed metal foil; several pieces of paper serve as filling material.