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Lot Essay
Abby Wright (1774-1842) established her school for girls in South Hadley, Massachusetts in 1803. The school produced a well-documented and distinctive record of needlework.
Quintessential characteristics of these needleworks include silver metallic threads, paint decoration on silk and the distinctive feature of adhering a small rectangular paper on which the decedent's epitaph was either printed or handwritten. In addition, works from this school are also distinguished by their technique of surrounding small shrubs with tiny seed stitches to define their shape against a background embroidered in similar colors. The example illustrated here incorporates all of these elements as well as the use of velvet appliqué and metallic threads suggesting Abby Wright's familiarity with Hartford silk embroideries. Whether she visited Hartford or was otherwise aware of needlework production from that area is unknown; however, the silk embroideries from Hartford that could have influenced her are not known to predate 1800.
Mourning embroideries produced by 1807 usually comprised weeping figures wearing garments which were usually painted as evidenced here. The earlier examples mostly had a minimum of paint reserved for the face and arms of the mourner and sky as well as a meeting house in the background.
In 1809 Abby Wright relinquished her duties to her half-sister, Sophia Goodrich, after she married, but remained closely involved with the school until it closed in 1811. For related silk embroideries and further information on Abby Wright's school see Ring, Girlhood Embroidery (New York, 1993), pp. 158-165; Antiques (September 1986), pp. 482-493.
Quintessential characteristics of these needleworks include silver metallic threads, paint decoration on silk and the distinctive feature of adhering a small rectangular paper on which the decedent's epitaph was either printed or handwritten. In addition, works from this school are also distinguished by their technique of surrounding small shrubs with tiny seed stitches to define their shape against a background embroidered in similar colors. The example illustrated here incorporates all of these elements as well as the use of velvet appliqué and metallic threads suggesting Abby Wright's familiarity with Hartford silk embroideries. Whether she visited Hartford or was otherwise aware of needlework production from that area is unknown; however, the silk embroideries from Hartford that could have influenced her are not known to predate 1800.
Mourning embroideries produced by 1807 usually comprised weeping figures wearing garments which were usually painted as evidenced here. The earlier examples mostly had a minimum of paint reserved for the face and arms of the mourner and sky as well as a meeting house in the background.
In 1809 Abby Wright relinquished her duties to her half-sister, Sophia Goodrich, after she married, but remained closely involved with the school until it closed in 1811. For related silk embroideries and further information on Abby Wright's school see Ring, Girlhood Embroidery (New York, 1993), pp. 158-165; Antiques (September 1986), pp. 482-493.