Description:
Drawn and painted decorative cardboard wall pocket designed to be hung on a wall. The pocket is designed with four holders or pockets for lightweight objects such as calling cards or notes. It is an important example of a genre of schoolgirl art that frequently does not survive because of its fragile nature. Composed of four identically shaped pieces of cardboard similar in outline to an acorn, the cardboard pieces are laid one on top of each other in a graduated fashion so that the top third is visible at the top, the bottom piece is completely visible, each cardboard piece is decorated in watercolors and ink decoration, the top example has a shell, scroll, and leaf decoration in brown and below is a group of shells and seaweed; the next card has a shell, scroll, and leaf decoration in brown and below are roses and other flowers, the next card has a shell, scroll, and leaf decoration in brown and rose decoration with a piece of sheet music, below is a card with shell, scroll, and leaf decoration in brown with a reserve of a gothic style ruin building by a pond, a silk tie is at the top for hanging and a silk ribbon is at the bottom tip, and the edges of the all the cards are decorated with gold foil, made by Elizabeth Rowe Bellows (1810-1865) of Bellows Falls, Vermont, while a student at Deerfield Academy, under the tutelage of Catherine Wells. A note on the back, written in ink, reads "E. R. Bellows Dennis. Made by her in Walpole/ September, 1825 (repaired May 27th 1831./ while a pupil of Miss/ Catherine Wells of/ Deerfield Mass." Elizabeth Bellows also made a watercolor and needlework picture, "Queen Blanche releasing captive prisoners," probably while a student at the Misses Pattens' School in Hartford, Connecticut. Elizabeth Bellows married Bowman Watson Dennis on April 2, 1831.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Linen; Silk; Watercolor painting Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2016.29 |
