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Inventory of the Levy Family Miniature Portraits, circa 1789, circa 1835
Inventory of the Levy Family Miniature Portraits, circa 1789, circa 1835
Descriptive Summary
| Abstract: | Two miniature portraits of Chapman Levy, a Jewish lawyer, legislator, and landowner from South Carolina and later Mississippi. Also included are portraits of his mother, Sarah Moses Levy, and his sister, Eliza Levy Anderson. |
| Title: | Levy family miniature portraits |
| Date(s): | circa 1789, circa 1835 |
| Extent: | 0.4 linear feet (1 document box) |
| Repository: | Jewish Heritage Collection, Special Collections, College of Charleston Libraries 66 George Street Charleston, SC 29424 Phone: (843) 953-8016 Fax: (843) 953-6319 URL: http://archives.library.cofc.edu |
| Call Number: | Mss 1099 |
| Language of Material: | Materials in English |
Biographical Note
Chapman Levy was born in 1787 to Sarah Moses Levy (d. 1839) and Samuel Levy (1746-1842) of Camden, South Carolina. Legislator, lawyer, soldier, landowner, Mason, and expert on the practice of dueling, Levy is listed as a founding member of the Camden Protestant Episcopal Church, though it is unclear if he converted to Christianity. Levy was one of the largest Jewish slaveholders of his era, owning thirty-one slaves, twenty of whom worked in his brickyard near Colombia Canal in 1820. In the mid-1930s, Levy resettled in Mississippi where he appears to have prospered. Chapman Levy died at the age of sixty-two in 1849.
For more information about Chapman Levy, please see pages 118-119 of A Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life edited by Theodore Rosengarten and Dale Rosengarten (2002).
Collection Overview
Two miniature portraits of Chapman Levy, a Jewish lawyer, legislator, and landowner from South Carolina and later Mississippi. Also included are portraits of his mother, Sarah Moses Levy, and his sister, Eliza Levy Anderson. The portrait of Sarah Moses Chapman shows her wearing the miniature pendant of her young son, Chapman.
Collection Arrangement
Materials are described at the item level.
Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person, family, or organization, by topical subject, by place, and by types of material.Names
- Anderson, Eliza Levy, b. 1839
- Levy, Chapman, 1787-1849
- Levy, Sarah Moses, d. 1839
- Levy family
Subjects
- Jewish businesspeople--United States
- Jewish capitalists and financiers--United States
- Portrait miniatures--18th century
- Portrait miniatures--19th century
- Portrait miniatures, American-- South Carolina
Types of Material
- Miniatures (paintings)
Inventory
Measures 2 3/8 x 1 7/8 inches. Portrait is painted in watercolor on ivory support, artist unknown. Framed in a simple metal locket-style case, it has a rear reserve that contains the image of a woman at a plinth topped with a dove. The rear memento is painted in mono chrome watercolor (sepia tone) with chopped hair on an ivory support. The case has a separate front bezel that contains a convex cover glass. A simple ring for hanging is attached at the top.
Measures 2 1/8 x 1 5/8 inches. Portrait is painted in watercolor on an ivory support, artist unknown. Framed in a simple burnished bezel case, it has a hair reserve on the rear, which contains a painted memento of a rosebush on an ivory support. One blossom and one bud grow on the bush. The painted ground beneath the bush incorporates small pieces of human hair. Remarkably, Sarah Moses Levy, who poses in a lace cap and collar, wears the miniature of her son, Chapman, the same that is found in this collection. No signatures or inscriptions are visible inside the case.
Measures 3 1/4 x 2 5/8 inches. Portrait is painted in watercolor, artist unknown. Framed in a red oval leather case with a silk lining. A partial inscription "Col. Chapman---" is written in ink on the silk lining of the lid.
Measures 3 x 2 3/8 inches. Portrait is painted in watercolor on ivory support, artist unknown. Framed in an oval red leather case with a silk lining with an inscription "My Mother" in ink on the lining lid.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Copyright Notice
The nature of the College of Charleston's archival holdings means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. Special Collections claims only physical ownership of most archival materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Levy family miniature portraits, College of Charleston Libraries, Charleston, SC, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Materials were donated in 2000 by Lane Dinkins and in 2001 by Thomas W. Crockett in honor of Loraine Crockett.
Processing Information
Processed by Deborah Kingsbury with Sarah Dorpinghaus, December 2011.
Encoded by Sarah Dorpinghaus, January 2012.
Reviewed and uploaded by Martha McTear, February 2012.
Funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources supported the processing of this collection and encoding of the finding aid.
