Object Number 1958.1524 A

Object Name

Needlework coat of arms (Embroidered hatchment)

Category

Textiles (Needlework)

Credit Line/Donor

Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont

Creator (Role)

Hannah Hall (possible maker)
Thomas Fitch, Jr. (b. August 12, 1725; d. January 16, 1795) was the son of Hannah Hall Fitch and Governor Thomas Fitch, Sr., of Connecticut. Thomas Jr. graduated from Yale in 1746.

Hannah Fitch (Possible maker)
1731-1744

Mary Fitch Thatcher (Possible maker)
1733-1776

Elizabeth Fitch Rowland (Possible maker)
1738-1825

Esther Fitch (Possible maker)
1741-1771

Place of Origin

Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, New England, United States, North America

Date

1750-1775

Subjects

Armorial device

Materials

Silk; Metallic thread

Techniques

Embroidered, Woven (satin)

Construction Description

Hand-embroidered

Dimensions (inches)

25.125 (L) , 25.125 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

63.818 (L) , 63.818 (W)

Measurement Notes

Measurements are of the area visible within the frame.

Object Description

Web - 01/20/2016

This embroidered hatchment shows the arms of the Hall family only, which was worked by Hannah Hall of New Haven about 1730-1740 after marrying Thomas Fitch. Hannah and Thomas had many children prior to Thomas becoming the Governor of Connecticut in 1754. Mysteriously, in 1773, another very similar embroidered hatchment was found by Captain Nicholas Johnson of Newburyport in the cabin of a deserted ship drifting along the New England coast. However, unlike Hannah's embroidered piece, this hatchment displays the Fitch-Hall coat of arms, with Fitch impaling Hall. It is likely that the Fitch-Hall hatchment was worked at about 1770 by one of Hannah and Thomas' daughters who were known to attend the Misses Cuming School in Boston. It is not clear how a daughter's hatchment came to be on the deserted ship, what the exact name of that ship was, and where it was bound. The embroidered Fitch-Hall coat of arms, collected by Captain Johnson, later descended to a member of his family.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Swan, Susan Burrows. 1976 A Winterthur Guide to American Needlework.
• Published: p. 135, fig. 95
[Book] Swan, Susan Burrows. 1977 Plain & Fancy: American Women and Their Needlework, 1700-1850.
• Published: pp. 89-90, pl. 11