Artist/Maker

Engelheart, John Cox Dillman __Possibly by

Place Made

Date Made

1800-1807

Medium

watercolor on ivory –glass –brass –hair

Dimensions

HOA: (oval) 2 7/8″

Accession Number

2776.2

Description

SITTER: George Trenholm of Charleston, South Carolina, was the fourth child of William Trenholm (1737-1822) and Ann Esther (Lookuph) Trenholm (1741-1821). The family emigrated to America in 1764 and settled first in New York and then in Charleston, South Carolina.

Loyalists, the family left the Colonies during the American Revolution, living first in Holland and then in St. Domingo. The family returned to Charleston following the revolution in St. Domingo in 1793.

George Trenholm spent most of his adulthood in London where he supported his father’s mercantile activities. He died of yellow fever off the coast of Africa around 1807.

ARTIST: This miniature may be the work of English portrait miniaturist John Cox Dillman Engleheart (1784-1862). Engleheart was the nephew of well-known Britain’s miniaturist George Engelheart (1752-1829).

FRAME: Original with hairwork and initials “GTT” on the back

DESCRIPTION: Watercolor on ivory, miniature portrait of a man. The man has dark brown hair, brown eyes. He faces right and looks at the viewer. It is a three-quarters angle of the face, however. He seems to have a darker, ruddy complexion.

Credit Line

MESDA Purchase Fund