Brunk Auctions
Live Auction

Premier Auction - Session I - February 3, 2023

Fri, Feb 3, 2023 09:00AM EST
Lot 406

Rare Abolitionist Miniature, Britannia Set Us Free

Estimate: $1,000 - $1,500

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $25
$100 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$3,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000

(19th century)

banner coming from one black figure's mouth, "Britannia Set Us Free", watercolor, wire, wax, foil, 2 x 2-3/4 in.; round burlwood frame, convex eglomise painted glass, 6-1/2 in. diameter

Note: "In 1787, the Wedgwood ceramics firm issued a cameo medallion featuring a kneeling and shackled Black man with the inscription, "Am I not a man and a brother?" After its adoption as the seal of the London-based Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, the image became an emblem of the antislavery movements in Britain, France, and the United States. Proliferating in printed abolitionist literature, it also appeared on a wide range of consumer goods" The Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/191076).

Provenance: Private Collection, Middleburg, Virginia [[europeanart]]/[[portrait-miniature]]

Condition

good condition

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