Artist/Maker

Alexander, Isaac Brownfield

Place Made

Date Made

1830-1840

Medium

watercolor on ivory

Dimensions

HOA: 4 1/4″; WOA: 3 1/4″

Accession Number

6010

Description

SITTER: Alexander Young (1783-1856) was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, but had immigrated to the United States by 1799, first training with Baltimore silversmith George Graham, before moving to Camden, South Carolina. Settling in Camden with his wife Elizabeth Rowe by 1807, Young worked as both a bookseller and silversmith until his death in 1856. An experienced and skilled craftsman, Young is most famously known for the silver trowel he crafted for Lafayette to use when laying the cornerstone of the DeKalb monument in 1825. Young most likely trained his son Edward as silversmith and supported Edward’s business ventures in Columbia, South Carolina (Young & Veal, 1837-1838; A. Young & Co., 1841-1848 [sometimes branded as A. Young & Son]).

ARTIST: Isaac Brownfield Alexander (1812-1884) was born in Camden, South Carolina. His father, Dr. Isaac V. Alexander, had been educated at Princeton. Isaac Brownfield Alexander and his brother Henry Dana Ward Alexander (1810-1865) were both educated at the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy in Norwich, Vermont. In a miniature self-portrait on paper (MESDA Acc. 5661), the artist surrounds himself with the ephemera of a classical education.

In 1842 Alexander advertised as an artist, jeweler, and silversmith in the Camden Journal. Alexander embraced the newest technology of his day, becoming an early practitioner of photography. He opened early daguerreotype studios in Camden and Columbia, South Carolina, and in Charlotte, North Carolina. This new technology helped to eliminate the demand for portraits on ivory and democratized portraiture.

DESCRIPTION: Miniature portrait of a man with dark hair and blue eyes. He is wearing a white shirt, black cravat, black vest, and a black coat while he appears to be seated on an upholstered chair. The miniature is in the original hinged brown leather case.

History

Descended in the Young family. For other items that descended in this family, see MESDA Object Database records D-33193 miniature of Edward Young (son of Alexander Young); D-33196 Lewis Miles Edgefield jar; D-33197 I. Duffel goblet and tintype of Mary L. Young (daughter of Alexander Young); and D-33207 E A Young matchbox.

This miniature portait was published in the first edition of E. Milby Burton’s “South Carolina Silversmiths, 1690-1860” (Charleston, SC: CharlestonMuseum, 1942).

Artist Biography

ARTIST: Isaac B. Alexander (1812-1884) is an exceeding rare artist. He is known by a signed and dated miniature of Mrs. Peter Smith in the collection of the Gibbes Museum of Art. He is said to have worked in Charleston in 1839. Alexander was born in Camden, South Carolina. He probably also worked as an itinerant daguerrian between 1842-1848. Additionaly, I.B. Alexander is listed in Cuthbert, Early Art and Artists in West Virginia as a portrait painter working in Jefferson County, West Virginia (then Virginia) during the mid-19th century. Cuthbert notes that a number of Alexander’s works survive in private collections in the Charles Town area. (Information provided by Elle Shushan)

Credit Line

James H. Willcox Jr. Silver Fund