John Eugene Smith
Masonic Jewel

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Masonic Jewel
Datec. 1855
Made inGalena, Missouri, United States
Made inSaint Louis, Missouri, United States
MediumGold
Dimensions2 1/2 × 2 1/8 × 1/16 in. (6.4 × 5.4 × 0.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Jas A. Gundry
Object numberB.93.21
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Metals Study Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Freemasons belong to an oath-bound, secret fraternity, the purpose of which is to develop sound moral and social virtues among its members and humankind. Its origins were in seventeenth-century England, and by the 1730s lodges were established in the American colonies. Many of the founding fathers of the United States, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, and their French ally the marquis de Lafayette, became members. The past master’s jewel was regarded as both regalia and personal memento. Its design varied, and this example, its radiant sun framed within a square and quadrant, is patterned after one used in Scottish lodges. This unmarked jewel, presented by Dubuque Lodge No. 3, may have been supplied by John Eugene Smith, who worked in nearby Galena.

Related examples: Hamilton 1994, pp. 134–39, nos. 4.38–4.41, 4.43–4.45. 

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.


ProvenanceGeneral Caleb Hoskins Booth (1814–1877), Dubuque, Iowa; by descent to James A. Gundry, Houston; given to MFAH, 1993.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Engraved: a carpenter's square and compass framing a radiating sun
Engraved on reverse: Presented To Past Master CH Booth by Dubuque Lodge No. 3
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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