President Hoover’s personally-owned piece of original artwork kept on display in the White House during his presidency, consisting of a detailed reverse-painted image of a large sailing ship set against an iridescent background created with actual butterfly wings and framed to an overall size of 6 x 8. Reverse of the frame bears several original labels which read: “#4 Hoover,” “Made of wings of Morpho Menelaus from French Guyana,” and “The glass on this picture must never be replaced.” Accompanied by a July 4, 1982, letter of provenance on a White House card from Lillian Rogers Parks, who was a best selling author as well as housekeeper and seamstress at the White House for over 30 years, from Hoover through Eisenhower, which reads, in part: “This early 1900s 6 x 8 framed item is made with blue iridescent butterfly wings…My original inventory #4 Hoover label is on the back…It was given to me by Mrs. Hoover before they left the White House. I often saw it on display.” A diagonal crack to glass, otherwise fine condition.
