Screen, Fire

Object Name:

Screen, Fire

Object ID:

1965.017.01 a-b

Date:

1790-1820

Description:

Writing Fire Screen. Two pieces: the upper piece is a framed silk painting with a dowel (B), and the lower piece is a stand (A) into which the dowel fits.
Screen (B). Frame is mahogany with veneer. Inside frame is wood board, covered with at least three layers of silk. Silk on back is completely shredded, while front silk is mostly intact. The silk is cream color, with a sheer painted panel pinned to it with straight pins. The painted panel is edged with silk braid. Painted design is of a toddler boy facing left with blond hair, blue eyes, rosy cheeks, red lips, and a white dress. Around boy is gold circle and blue flowers in two diagonal horns opposite each other on gold circle. Brass plate on the bottom of the frame with a hole for the dowel.
Stand (A). Stand is mahogany with rosewood veneer. Vase-shaped turning, attached to square footed platform, with a single screw. Platform has bracket feet.

Material:

Wood
Textile

Dimensions:

H-15.1 W-7.8 L-7.9 inches

Provenance:

Screen is said to be from the Concord, NH, home of two unmarried sisters, Sara and Ann Leaver. Donor probably bought this item at the estate sale/auction of the Leavers' home (date of sale undetermined). The Leaver family moved from Rhode Island to Concord, NH, circa 1850s, when the sisters were teens; the sisters probably resided in the family home until their deaths in the 1910s or 20s. They resided there with their mother, siblings, and African servant.

Credit Line:

Gift of Ruth L. Wood

People:

Leaver, Sara (1841-after 1910), Leaver, Ann (c. 1843-9--after 1910), Wood, Ruth L.