Update Our ticketing, donations, and membership sales portal is down for scheduled maintenance on the afternoon of 4/11.
Miniature rectangular portrait of Mrs. Charlotte Phippen Lane, half length, sitting with her arm resting on a table. She wears a black dress, pronounced white lace collar, cuffs and a cap. In an elaborate gilded frame with glass.
portraits
paintings (visual works)
miniatures (paintings)
ivory (tooth component)
watercolor (paint)
portraits
Picture
Portrait
Portrait
In Cherished Possessions 2003-2005: On one of the two trips Captain Oliver Lane made to Shanghai in the 1850s, he brought daguerreotype photographs of his wife and two daughters to the Chinese artist Chow-Kwa for copying. This miniature painting of Lane's wife, Charlotte Phippen, shows Chow-Kwa's remarkable skill at reproducing likenesses with photographic detail. During extended voyages, Lane wrote longingly in his journal of his desire to be with his family. Chow-Kwa's miniature paintings of Lane's wife and daughters must have provided him some comfort.
Stamped in ink on a cut-out label on the ivory back are five Chinese characters and below that is: CHOW-KWA. On a jelly label on the upper frame back is: Mrs. Oliver G. Lane.
Original to Cogswell's Grant (Essex, Mass.),
1991.535
Mrs Charlotte Phippen Lane
Chow-Kwa (Maker)
Shanghai, China
3 1/2 x 2 3/4 (HxW) (inches)
Gift of Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little
1991.535.1
Historic New England is committed to implementing reparative language description for existing collections and creating respectful and inclusive language description for new collections. If you encounter language in Historic England's Collections Access Portal that is harmful or offensive, or you find materials that would benefit from a content warning, please contact [email protected].
Sign up to our newsletter for our latest news and events
