A 22-year-old Hall wears a dusty coral pink gown, holding a silver tray with a tea pastry. Two young girls, Patty and Lily, flank her left and right in blue and green gowns accented with white lace.
The backdrop, an idyllic spring scene. Teatime on an outdoor brick patio beneath a lush arbor with pink flowering trees. The work is roughly 2 feet by 3 feet in a gilded gold frame.
Her employers, James Ellicott and Harriet Jolliffe Tyson, were former Quakers and staunch abolitionists, which influenced their familial and societal interactions.
Quaker records at the Friends Historical Association show James retired from the Society of Friends in 1847, the same year he married Harriet Jolliffe. Quaker practices encourage marrying within the community, which James did not. This explains the ornate clothing the children are wearing 10 years later, rather than the plainclothes Quaker families usually wore.
Historical context underscores the painting’s significance. Painted just four years before the Civil War, it captures the complexities of race, class and identity in a pre-war U.S. Although not all Quakers were anti-slavery, the Tysons, descendants of Quaker abolitionist Elisha Tyson, continued their family’s legacy of advocating for equal rights.
“We’re talking about people who stand out,” said Jordan Landes, curator at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.
The family has deep local ties, too. Notably, Martha Ellicott Tyson, James’ mother, was an abolitionist and co-founder of Swarthmore College.
Images like these are often held in historical archives, like the one at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College, said Celia Caust-Ellenbogen, associate curator and historian at the nonprofit. Caust-Ellenbogen said images Black servants who worked for Quaker families do exist in their collection, however none this colorful.
“In this image, even though Sidney Hall is a servant, we can see her features, we can see her personality,” she added.
