Artwork
Hope
Hope is a watercolor painting. It dates from 1802 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Housed within a gold ring adorned with pearls, the miniature likely served as a wearable token of sentiment or remembrance.
Created around 1800, this watercolor on ivory functions as an allegory titled Hope. The work depicts a solitary woman, serving as the personification of the abstract concept. Housed within a gold ring adorned with pearls, the miniature likely served as a wearable token of sentiment or remembrance.
As an allegorical piece, the female figure represents the virtue of hope itself, a common subject in art of this period intended to convey moral or emotional ideals through human form.
Technique & Style
This allegorical depiction of a woman is executed as a watercolor on an ivory support. The miniature painting is set within a gold and pearl ring, which serves as its physical housing. Stylistically, the work operates within the genre of allegory, utilizing the intimate, delicate handling typical of watercolor on ivory to convey its subject.
History & Provenance
Hope is an anonymous watercolor executed on ivory and set within a gold and pearl ring, dated to the year 1800. The work belongs to the allegorical genre and portrays a woman, a subject identified in the museum’s classification as part of The American Wing. It entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains on view in the museum’s American Wing galleries.
The painting’s creation history is limited to its production as a ring‑mounted watercolor, a format that reflects early nineteenth‑century decorative practices. No earlier owners or sales records are documented, and the piece was never commissioned under a named patron.
The work titled Hope is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, within the American Wing’s decorative arts division. It is catalogued as a watercolor on ivory set in a gold and pearl ring, dating to 1800 and classified as an allegorical piece depicting a woman.
The museum’s collection records place the piece among the American Wing’s holdings, identifying it as an anonymous painting from the early nineteenth century.
Legacy
Hope, an anonymous watercolor on ivory mounted in a gold and pearl ring from 1800, is listed as an allegorical work that depicts a woman and is part of The American Wing collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Its placement in The American Wing indicates that the museum treats the work as part of the narrative of early American art, underscoring its standing as a notable artifact of the period.
Overview
“Hope” is a miniature watercolor executed on ivory and set within a gold and pearl ring, belonging to the American Wing collection. The work measures only a few centimeters, designed to be worn as a personal adornment. Its composition features a solitary female figure in a white dress, leaning against a fragmented column under a turbulent sky, with a lone star piercing the clouds.
Context
Miniature watercolors on ivory were common in the United States as portable portraits and tokens of affection. This work aligns with contemporary practices of embedding narrative symbolism, such as broken columns and celestial motifs, within small-scale compositions to convey personal stories.
Artist & collection
