Needlework Picture of the Holy Family by Hadassah Moody

Dateca. 1805

Artist/Maker Hadassah Moody (1787-?)

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, South Hadley

MediumSilk, chenille, pencil, paint, and ink on silk and linen Framed in glass and wood

DimensionsActual: OH 15 5/8" x OW 12 5/8" Framed: OH 19" x OW 16"

Credit LineAnonymous gift

Object number1979.601.9

DescriptionThis is a rectangular needlework picture done in shades of blue, green, cream, and brown silk embroidery threads and paint on a ribbed tabby-weave silk ground. Three figures stand in the middle of the scene, accompanied by a donkey. A child in a short dress with a halo around his head holds onto the hand of a woman in flowing gold-colored robes. Behind the child is a man in a gold and green robe over a blue garment; he holds the donkey by its halter. The heads, arms, and legs of figures are painted while the costumes are worked in silk embroidery. The donkey is entirely stitched except for the whites of its eyes. Below their feet, grasses are suggested by irregular horizontal bands of silk embroidery in long stitches of varied shades of green and yellow. Various shrubs and plants appear in the foreground in satin stitch and French knots. Other shrubs and two tall trees are worked in both silk and silk chenille threads. A city in the distance sits to the left of the scene, done in watercolor with pencil or ink. Blue clouds are painted above the figures. A linen tacking edge has been extended below the lower silk edge to form a bottom border within the present frame. On this tacking edge, the name “Hadassah Moody” is written in ink.

The frame is original. A partial inscription on its paper backing shows that George Burr and Elisha Smith were responsible for these important finishing touches.

Stitches: Couched, French knots, and satin
Label TextThis is a needlework picture worked by Hadassah Moody at Abby Wright's school in South Hadley, Massachusetts’s ca. 1805. Hadassah was the daughter of Seth and Mary Pomeroy Moody of South Hadley, and she must have been at least twenty years old when she created this needlework picture. Her age may partially account for the fineness of the workmanship, which is seen in small, neat, uniformly worked stitches, precise outlines, handsome effects of shading, and sophisticated manipulation of stitchery to suggest contour and dimension, as in the donkey’s face and the folds of Mary’s robe.
The picture is also important as a document of technical practices of the period. Study indicates that the water coloring was added after the stitching, and the linen strip that now forms a lower margin originally was covered by black and gold painting on the reverse of the glass. The frame is original. A partial inscription on its paper backing shows that George Burr and Elisha Smith were responsible for these important finishing touches. This pair maintained a “looking glass factory” in Northampton, Massachusetts, from November 1809 until about June 1810.
MarkingsOn the original paper backing of the frame are several inscriptions; part at lower right appears to read "Burr & Smith/in the north part of North...[illegible]/Northampton--" A column of figures runs perpendicular to the inscriptions on the sheet. At middle right, the inscriptiosn may read, in part, "Making in all...[illegible] J. Bivor/by Asa Jony. Bivor/G...[illegible]." at center the name may be "James Harri...[?]" over several indecipherable words.
ProvenanceNo known provenance other than anonymous donor.

History of Maker:
Hadassah Moody was born on June 29, 1787 in South Hadley, Massachusetts to Seth and Mary Moody. She attended Abby Wright's school in the same town. On November 14, 1811, Hadassah married Elijah Lyman. Hadassah died on December 31, 1850 at the age of 63.