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Masonic Scottish Rite High Priest with Thrice Potent Master Jewel
1877-79
Notman and Campbell
USA: Massachusetts, Boston
Photograph on paper mounted on board
overall: 8"h x 4"w
Gift of the Supreme Council, 33º, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, U.S.A.
85.80.20

Sepia-tone cabinet card photograph of Masonic Scottish Rite High Priest with Thrice Potent Master jewel (likely); standing posed in front of backdrop painted to look like a harbor; photograph is on thick board with beveled gilt sides; front reads "Notman & Campbell. / 4 Park Street, Boston."


The unidentified subject of this studio portrait by Boston photographers William Notman and Thomas Campbell--who joined forces as the firm Notman and Campbell from 1877 to 1879--is dressed as a king in sumptuous regalia and a crown, likely for a Scottish Rite degree ritual. Along with his lace-trimmed robes appliqued with stylized papyrus plants, he wears a jewel suspended from a cord. This jewel, in the shape of a compasses topped by a crown containing a sun, likely indicates that he was a Thrice Potent Master of a Scottish Rite Lodge of Perfection. The compasses that form the jewel connect to an arc, echoing the shape of Past Master’s jewels in many jurisdictions.