Object Number 1967.1266

Object Name

Towel (Miniature decorated hand towel)

Category

Textiles (Needlework)

Credit Line/Donor

Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont

Creator (Role)

Christina Hess (Maker)
1790-1854
Christina Hess was born in Conestoga Township, Lancaster County, in 1790 to John and Elizabeth (Musser) Hess. She never married. After her father's death, she lived with her sister Elisabeth Hess (1785-1851) on a tract of 17 acres in Conestoga township until their deaths. The tax lists record their occupation as spinsters. The 1850 census names Christina Hess, age 60, seamstress, as head of the household together with Elizabeth Hess, age 65, seamstress, and Sarah Kreitler, age 15. Christina died January 26, 1854. Her brother, Christian Hess (1777-1853), married a woman named Christina (1777-1853) who is sometimes mistakenly identified as the maker of the towels. The Christina Hess towel, dated 1815, as well as two related towels made for Anna Herr, 1816, and CH, 1818, exhibit a strong relationship through their use of embroidered German lettering, design motifs, and overall workmanship. The maker may have been trained in professional free embroidery stitching techniques which she then applied to the towels. See Gehret et al, This Is the Way I Pass My Time, pp. 10 and 58 for a more complete discussion. (L. Minardi, 5/29/2013)

Place of Origin

Conestoga Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

Date

1815

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Inscription; Top; "Christina Hessin / C H / 1815"

Materials

Cotton; Silk

Techniques

Woven (plain), Embroidered, Drawn work, Dresden work

Construction Description

Hand-embroidered

Dimensions (inches)

23.5 (L) , 8.75 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

59.69 (L) , 22.225 (W)

Object Description

Text available soon.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Lasansky, Jeannette. 1990 A Good Start: The Aussteier or Dowry.
• Published: p. 83.
[Book] Gehret, Ellen J., et al. 1985 This Is the Way I Pass My Time. 18.
• Published: p. 256, pl. 46. See p. 10 for genealogy; noted on p. 274, no. 392; pp. 10, 58 discussion of Christina Hess
[Book] Swan, Susan Burrows. 1976 A Winterthur Guide to American Needlework.
• Published: p. 22, fig. 14
[Catalogue] Garvan, Beatrice B. & Hummel, Charles F. 1982 The Pennsylvania Germans: a celebration of their arts, 1683-1850. An exhibition organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.
• Listed on p. 190, no. 305.
[Book] Hutchins, Catherine E., et al. 1983 Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans.
• Published: p. 227, fig. 220.