James F. Ballard
Paul Manship American
James Franklin Ballard (1851–1931) established a drug merchandising business in Saint Louis, Missouri, and formed a collection of rare oriental carpets. In 1922 and 1923 he made a gift to The Met of 129 of these carpets. Gustavus A. Pfieffer of Saint Louis commissioned Manship to complete a portrait of Ballard to be exhibited in the galleries with the carpets. It entered the museum’s collection in 1927. Manship imparted a great deal of detail in Ballard’s likeness, for instance the folds of the eyelids, the lines in the forehead and chin, and the mustache. He also tinted the irises brown.