Lot 29: Important Jeremiah Theus portrait

Important Jeremiah Theus portrait (Swiss/Charleston, South Carolina, 1716-1774), "Amarinthia Elliott" (1740 or 1741-1822) in a garden beside a stone column and holding a sprig of blue cornflowers or bachelor buttons, circa 1748, unsigned, oil on canvas, 15-3/4 x 13-5/8 in.; original mahogany panel frame attributed to Thomas Elfe (Charleston, South Carolina, 1719-1775). Lined with wax and linen, crackle, two periods of restoration, retouch left of chest, below proper right hand, within crackle of face, chest, hand, dress, scattered in background and at proper left armpit affecting 10-15 percent of surface; frame resurfaced. Barnard Elliott and Elizabeth Boisgard Elliott of Accabee Plantation, Charleston; Amarinthia Elliott, unwed sister of Elizabeth Elliott Baker (died 1771) who was married to Richard Bohun Baker III (1736-1783). Amarinthia cared for her sister's children after her death at Archdale Hall Plantation, Charleston; Mary Bohun Baker (1828-1907), daughter of Elizabeth and Richard Bohun Baker III, wife of Professor Augustus Sachtleben (1824-1900), Charleston; Mrs. John Drayton Grimke-Drayton (Emma Bohun Sachtleben), Charleston; Sold at C.G. Sloan's Auctioneers, April 17-20, 1980, under the title "Miss Elliott of Charleston, SC"; James (Jim) A. Williams, Mercer House, Savannah, Georgia (of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil fame); sold by him while in prison through his agent, Peter Scherwin, 1984, to Thomas A. Gray.