Mary Jemima Balfour (Mrs. James Balfour, d. 1785)

Mary Jemima Balfour was the wife of the merchant James Balfour and mother of George Balfour.

Dimensions: 48 x 39 in. (121.92 x 99.06 cm.)

Subject wears a white, Roman-inspired gown with a pale pink underskirt, pearls and a pink sash in her hair which crosses her chest, a blue breastknot, and red drapery around her arms. She holds a book open to page 92 in her left hand while her right arm rests on the chair. She sits in a blue-green upholstered chair with a green curtain on the right with gold fringe and large tassel. She is turned three-quarters to her left.

See: Carolyn J. Weekley, Painters and Paintings in the Early American South (2013): 351.