Eliza Law Rogers

Status

Not on view

Label Text

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.

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Datec. 1817

Subject Elizabeth Parke Custis Law Rogers (1797 - 1822)

Geography Made - United States

Medium/TechniqueWatercolor, ivory, copper, gold, hair, glass, metal foil, paper

DimensionsOverall: 3 7/8 in. x 2 3/4 in. x 1/2 in. (9.86 cm x 6.99 cm x 1.27 cm) Other (Miniature): 2 7/8 in. x 2 1/4 in. (7.32 cm x 5.72 cm)

Credit LineAcquired through the generosity of Mrs. William S. (Jeanie) Kilroy, Sr., 2008

Object numberH-4830/A

DescriptionOval, bust length portrait of Eliza Law Rogers, three-quarter view, in which her body is turned toward her left, while her head is turned to look at the viewer; she wears a white, high-waisted gown with ruching just below the bust and long sleeves; a ruffled, stand up collar surrounds her neck and is connected to an embroidered, ruffled gauze fichu that drapes over her shoulders and parts at center front in a V-neckline; her dark brown hair is pulled up at the back of her head and arranged in several curled ringlets around her face; brown background, lightest at the lower proper left; lit from the upper proper right.

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.

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