Lucky Brimfield finds have gotten fewer and farther between (for the most part, dealers know just what they've got)--but this early Masonic apron was one, which I pulled out of a box where it has been rolled up along with some old certificates. Lucky us! And of a perfect scale for easy framing. I have found one other example of it, held in the collection of the Canadian Museum of History in Quebec.
This apron originated in the 1820s in Weathersfield, Vermont, produced by Lewis Roberson--a prolific and successful Windsor County, VT engraver, publisher, and later mapmaker; there is a fair bit out there about him--whose name appears here underside of the top flap of the apron. Of course for me it is all about the marvelous and marvelously rendered iconography here: the all seeing eye on the flap surrounded by rolled clouds and rays; columns, sun, moon, hands, beehive, scale, heart, ladder, swords, star, anchor, square and compass, bible, on and on. So striking, and so dramatic--just looking at this makes me want to enact some secret rituals! Printed in black on white silk with pale pink silk ruffled border and white cotton cloth backing.
14 1/4" x 13 1/8. Very good antique condition, @200 years old. Black ink is strong, all fabric is in very good condition, not at all fragile, no tears, no foul odors, etc. Old vertical and horizontal fold lines as visible--I have not tried to press or steam them out but there does not appear to be toning along the creases. Stable and very sound. No ties to the apron.
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