$2,938
Federal Mourning Embroidery, wrought by Lucy Howard, c. 1800, at the Mary Balch School, Providence, Rhode Island, the stitched willow leaves flank a monument which is inscribed "Capt. John Howard died June 16th 1789 aged 74" on a solid stitched ground, 7 1/8 x 9 in. (sight), in an original gilt frame with eglomise mat, (minor staining). Provenance: Capt. John Howard (1715-1789) died June 16th, 1789, in Hampton, Connecticut. Lucy Howard, his granddaughter, worked this memorial at the Mary Balch School. The piece descended in the Howard family. Literature: For stylistically similar examples of silk memorials also worked c. 1800 at Miss Balch's school, see Girlhood Embroidery, American Samplers and Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850 , Vol. I, by Betty Ring, New York, 1993, figures 213 and 214. Note: Accompanying this lot is the printed discourse of a funeral sermon delivered by Joseph Huntington D.D. at the interment of "Capt. John Howard of Hampton, June 17, 1789"; the sermon was printed in Hartford by Hudson and Goodwin.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2003-02-23