Sarah Hopkins

This distinctive silhouette has been painted by Thomas London of Worcester and depicts a lady named Sarah Roberts, daughter of John Roberts of Kidderminster. Sarah is shown wearing in an empire-line dress with a tall collar fill-in such as was fashionable from about 1805 suggesting that her profile may have been painted to mark her marriage in 1807 to William Hopkins. Sarah died on 21 December 1820 and the age of 38.

The silhouette is painted on ivory in black and a hint of grey with a hatched background. It is housed in the original papier-mâché frame with a decorative surround and a replaced hanger.

Thomas London is notable as one of the few artists painting profiles on larger pieces of ivory for framing. It is known from his trade labels that he worked in Kidderminster and Worcester; examples of his work are relatively rare.