Hand-cut silhouette of Flora, a woman enslaved in Connecticut
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1796
name: label: Created by
content: Unidentified
label: Subject of
content: Flora, ca. 1777 - 1815
notes: label: Description
content: A framed, hand-cut silhouette of Flora (ca. 1777 - 1815), an enslaved woman in Connecticut. The silhouette was traced at life-size directly from her cast shadow and cut from cream-colored wove paper that has been adhered to thin brown paperboard, likely millboard. It depicts Flora in profile, facing right, with a distinct outline of her hair rendered in spiky tufts, as well as her brow, eyelashes, nose, lips, chin, and neck. At both the top right and bottom right corners, handwritten in brown ink, are the inscriptions "Floras profile." At very bottom right, written in a different hand in brown ink is "Flora / Benjamin." The paper has multiple areas of discoloration and loss, giving the portrait a mottled appearance, and there are several visible crease lines throughout the paperboard.
place: label: Place collected
content: Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Domestic slave trade
label: Topic
content: Identity
label: Topic
content: Slavery
label: Topic
content: U.S. History, 1783-1815
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Classification
content: Slavery and Freedom Objects
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and National Portrait Gallery, Museum purchase through the American Women’s History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2021.48.1
objectType: label: Type
content: silhouettes
label: Type
content: portraits
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: wove paper on millboard
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (sheet): 14 × 13 in. (35.6 × 33 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (frame): 23 3/4 × 31 3/4 × 1 15/16 in. (60.3 × 80.6 × 4.9 cm)