Portrait pendant
Probably Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1840-1850
Measurements
2-1/4 x 1-3/8 in x 1/4 in
Materials
Gold, glass, daguerreotype, hair
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of Sara Corbit Reese Pryor
Accession Number
2004.19.8
Inscription
“D. C.” is engraved in an oval panel on the back.
Provenance
The pendant likely descended from Daniel Corbit to Daniel Wheeler Corbit to Sara Clark Corbit Curtis to Harriet Hurd Curtis to the donor.
Comments
This small gold pendant encases a daguerreotype portrait of a young woman. The back of the case includes the initials D C engraved below a glass window behind which is a small lock of braided brown hair. The initials are almost certainly those of Daniel Corbit (1796-1877). The identity of the sitter is not documented, but circumstances suggest that it is likely Eliza Naudain (1810-1844), Daniel Corbit's first wife. He married her in 1833, and she bore him five children before her untimely death at 31. The oval pendant is a remembrance, incorporating her image and a lock of her hair.
Other people in Daniel's life at the likely time this pendant was made include is mother, Mary Cowgill Corbit (1761-1845), who would have been in her eighties, and Daniel's second wife, Mary Corbit Wilson (1811-1880). Images of Mary simply do not match that of the woman in the pendant. For a daguerreotype of Mary Wilson Corbit and Mary Cowgill Corbit of c. 1853, see accession no. 1971.1007.