Henry Clay

This miniature watercolor of the Virginia-born statesman Henry Clay (1777–1852) is painted on ivory and mounted in an oval, gold brooch. A gold and blue enameled band surrounds the image. As a young man Clay worked as an assistant to George Wythe, a prominent Virginia jurist, and read the law under his guidance. Clay later moved to Kentucky, served as a Kentucky member of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, and as secretary of state under President John Quincy Adams.