Name/Title
Portrait of William Aiken, Jr.Entry/Object ID
2000.3.20Description
This object was stored on the third floor of the Russell House in an object storage case. It was scheduled to be sent to the Winter Antiques Show in January 2011 and went missing in November of 2010. Recovered at Charleston Library Society, August 2022.
Dubourjal, French, 19th century. Portrait miniature of Governor William Aiken as a young man. Water color on ivory, signed and dated l. rt. Dubourjal, 1829. Image of young man, full face having light brown wavy hair, wearing white stock, and tie, black suit on blue and white ground, in rectangular engine turned ormolu frame in own leather case.
Savinien Edmé Dubourjal (French, 1795-ca.1865)
William Aiken Jr.
France, 1829
Watercolor on ivory in original red leather case, H. 6 1/2 x W. 5 inches
Historic Charleston Foundation, Charleston, SC, gift of the heirs of Mary Green Maybank, 2000.3.20
A successful businessman, rice planter and distinguished politician, William Aiken Jr. (1806-1887) was one of the state's wealthiest citizens and made the first of two grand tours abroad in the late 1820s after graduating from the South Carolina College in 1825. While in Paris in 1829, Aiken commissioned a miniature by Savinien Edmé Dubourjal (1795-1865), a French artist most noted for his watercolor portraits. Dubourjal spent most of his life working in Paris, with a short sojourn in New York and Boston in 1846 to 1850. Although somewhat obscure, Dubourjal executed watercolor portraits of several notable American politicians including John C. Calhoun, James Knox Polk and Daniel Webster.
Just five years after Dubourjal executed this portrait, Aiken inherited a grand house at 48 Elizabeth Street, in which the family resided until 1975, and Jehossee Plantation, a 4,000-acre rice plantation that would become one of the largest in the South, with a workforce of over 800 slaves by the mid-nineteenth century. Aiken served as governor of South Carolina from 1842 to 1846 and in the United States House of Representatives from 1851 to 1857, during which time he was a staunch advocate for the preservation of the Union in the debate over secession.
BJO
The artists name is spelled "Savimer Edme Dubourjal" in the 1845 Boston directory. There is some speculation as to whether or not the artist was in Philadelphia in 1817; "S. Dubouyal," portrait painter, appears in the Philadelphia directory, living at 136 South Fifth Street.Artwork Details
Medium
watercolor on ivoryCollection
Historic Charleston Foundation CollectionAcquisition
Accession
2000.003.Source or Donor
Heirs of Mary Green MaybankAcquisition Method
GiftCredit Line
Heirs of Mary Green Maybank: Barbara Johnston Green, Laura Frost Wright, Celestine Frost Lehmann-HauMade/Created
Artist
Dubourjal, Savinien Edme (French, 1795- ca. 1865)Date made
1829 - 1829Inscription/Signature/Marks
Location
lower rightTranscription
DubourjalLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
PaintingNomenclature Class
ArtNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsLOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
Miniatures (Paintings), StatesmenDimensions
Height
6-1/2 inWidth
5 inDepth
3/4 inDimension Notes
sight: 2 7/8"Location
Location
Building
NR 303/Cabinet 3/Shelf CCategory
PermanentDate
February 7, 2023Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Aiken, William (Jr.) (Gov.)Provenance
Notes
Descended in the Aiken-Rhett family through the Maybank line, given by the wife of Theodore Maybank.Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
July 8, 2002Updated By
glong@historiccharleston.orgUpdate Date
May 17, 2023