Object Number 1969.5687 A

Object Name

Slip seat cover

Category

Textiles (Furnishing)

Credit Line/Donor

Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont

Creator (Role)

Katharine Almy (Probable maker)
1770-1863
Katharine Almy Ellery (1770-1863), the first owner of side chairs 1959.0083.001-.002, was the great great grandaughter of Walter Clarke (c 1638-1714), a governor of Rhode Island. In 1792, she married Edmund Trowbridge Ellery (1763-1847), who was the son of William Ellery, a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Prior to her marriage, Katharine was promised, as dowry, a set of at least six chairs made of sabicu wood from her brother James Gould Almy's (b. 1772) West Indies plantation. It is very likely that Katharine worked a set of canvaswork seat covers, two of which are in Winterthur's collection, as a young girl (1780s) before the chairs were even made. The inscription "Amy" is written in black ink in an 18th-century hand on the seat frames of both chairs. This phonetic spelling indicated a possible local pronunciation of the Almy family name.

Place of Origin

Newport, Rhode Island, New England, United States, North America

Date

1780-1792

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Label; Pinned on tag; "59.83.2b / slip seat?" (graphite)

Materials

Silk; Wool; Linen; Canvas

Techniques

Embroidered, Canvaswork, Woven (plain)

Construction Description

Hand-embroidered

Dimensions (inches)

18.25 (L) , 21.875 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

46.355 (L) , 55.563 (W)

Object Description

Text available soon.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Cantor, Jay E. 1997 Winterthur. 264.
• Published: p. 15