Paul Trapier II "King of Georgetown," Attributed to Henry Benbridge, 20th Century Copy

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A hand-colored photographic copy of a miniature portrait depicting Paul Trapier II (1720–1793), known in Georgetown, South Carolina as "the … Read more A hand-colored photographic copy of a miniature portrait depicting Paul Trapier II (1720–1793), known in Georgetown, South Carolina as "the King of Georgetown" and builder of Windsor plantation on the Black River at Winyah Bay. The original miniature is attributed to the Charleston portraitist Henry Benbridge (1743–1812) on stylistic grounds and through a documented family connection: Benbridge painted the sitter's daughter-in-law, Elizabeth (Foissin) Trapier, and her second husband, Capt. Albert Roux, circa 1780–1790 (Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem, NC).

The sitter is shown half-length in a dark green coat with gold frogging over a white stock, his powdered wig dressed in the fashion of the mid-eighteenth century. The photographic image is set within a linen mat and housed in a carved, ebonized wood frame.

The reverse bears a printed identification label reading "Paul Trapier 1720–1793," along with a period handwritten inscription identifying the sitter as "King of Georgetown," builder of "Windsor" on the Black River, Winyah Bay, and noting him as the great-grandfather of Richard H. Ellis. The original miniature this photograph reproduces is unsigned.

Hand-colored photographic print, linen mat, carved ebonized wood frame, glass

Image, 3 by 3⅝ inches; frame, 9 by 10 inches See less