Needlework picture (Silkwork picture)

Museum Object Number 2009.0033 A

Object Name

Needlework picture (Silkwork picture)

Category

Textiles (Needlework)

Credit Line/Donor

Museum purchase with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Vieser

Creator (Role)

Mary Remington (Maker)

Mary Balch (School mistress)

Creator Notes

Mary (Polly) Remington was born on April 13, 1792 to parents Henry Remington and Margaret LeValley, who both descended from early settlers of the town of Warwick in Kent County, Rhode Island. Her father was a lawyer and a judge who served on Rhode Island's Supreme Court, between 1801 and 1808. Both Mary and her mother were often not well, which is indicated in letters written to her suitor and future husband, Peleg Congdon. In 1816, Mary and Peleg married. Their marriage, which was preceded by an uncertain courtship, was not a happy one. In their first year of marriage, Peleg got work in New York building a ship. He refused to live in Warwick with Mary and her family, but at the same time did not request for Mary to come to him. Peleg eventually moves back to Warwick in 1819, for unknown reasons, but stays at a hotel instead of living with the Remington family. That same year their first son, John Remington Congdon, was born. Mary died on November 14, 1820, a few months after giving birth to their second son, Henry Remington Congdon. Peleg Congdon died in 1862 at the age of seventy-seven.Samplers in Mary Balch's school in Providence were the first American embroideries to receive wide recognition as a distinctive group from a specific school, and they continue to be the most renowned samplers made under an identified instructress. Mary Balch (1762-1831), often called Polly, was the daughter of the Newport tailor Timothy Balch (1725-1776) and Sarah Rogers (1735-1811). Her parents moved to Providence on the eve of the British occupation of Newport in 1776, and her father died within the year, leaving Sarah with four children and an insolvent estate. To help her mother support the family, Mary probably began teaching before she was twenty in 1782. The earliest sampler attributed to her school was dated March 1785. On August 10, 1801, Mary opened a boarding school in her new house on George Street. Her curriculum expanded from needleworking to include writing, music, and dancing. Advertisements for her school continued up through 1826. In 1821, hers was unquestionably the best-attended private school in Providence with an enrollment of 113 students. Mary was respected by her patrons and students and was known for her kindness, grace, prudence, and propriety. (Ring, Betty. Girlhood Embroidery, Vol. 1, pp178-185)

Date of Birth

April 13, 17921762

Date of Death

November 14, 18201831

Place of Origin

Providence, Rhode Island, United States, North America

Materials

Watercolor; Silk; Linen; Chenille

Techniques

Embroidered, Painted, Woven (satin)

Construction Description

Hand-embroidered, hand-painted

Dimensions (inches)

16.25 (L) , 13.725 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

41.275 (L) , 34.862 (W)

Measurement Notes

Dimensions refer to area of needlework visible through the sight.

Object Description

Text available soon.