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Master Mason Apron and Pouch
1824-1830
Attributed to Nathan Lakeman (1804-1835)
USA: Massachusetts, Salem
Paint on silk, cotton
a: body: 15"h x 15"w; b: 10-1/2"h x 7"w
Gift of Jon Gregory Adams Hill
2016.005.1a-b

Master Mason apron and pouch. a: Rounded apron with rounded false flap. White silk with pleated blue silk ribbon trim. Bound across the top edge with light blue silk ribbon. Cream silk ribbon ties at top corners (probably replacements). Flap is painted in gold and brown with an all-seeing eye inside a sun or star. The body is painted with an arrangement of Masonic symbols. The central motif is three steps to a mosaic pavement in red, blue and gold. Celestial and terrestrial globes on columns flank the pavement. In the center are an open Bible (with "St. John" at the top of the pages), a square and compasses with G in the middle, a sun and a moon with seven stars. Along the sides are an urn with incense, a beehive, Euclid's 47th proposition, an ark, an apron and a trowel. Lined with off-white cotton. b: Rectangular off-white pouch to hold apron.


While this particular apron does not have a label, it bears a strong resemblance to aprons produced by Nathan Lakeman in Salem, Massachusetts. Nathan Lakeman advertised “Masonic aprons of the newest and most elegant patterns” through the 1820s. He joined Jordan Lodge in Danvers, Massachusetts, in 1827. Sadly, he died of consumption in 1835 when he was 31 years old.