Needlework Memorial to Ham Family
Date1811-1820
Attributed to
Ham Family Member
Owned by
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.)
(1874-1948)
MediumSilk and silk chenille embroidery threads on silk with paint and paper embellishments and linen backing
DimensionsFramed: OH 9 1/4" x OW 10 3/4"
Picture: OH 8 1/4" x OW 9 3/4"
Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
Object number1931.604.1
DescriptionThis is a silk and paint mourning picture consisting of two mourning figures of women and two tombstones in a landscape. The women are dressed in high-waisted white gowns and have long black shawls wrapped over their shoulders. The woman on the right wears black shoes. Both women have brown hair dressed high in an early nineteenth-century style and held by black bands. The head of the woman on the right is painted on silk. To the left of her is a rectangular tombstone with embroidered trailing vines and urn on top. The brown inked inscription on the tombstone, which has deteriorated the silk, reads: "In Memory/ of Mary Ham/ who died March/ the 4th, 1797.../ Aged 4 years..." The left side of the picture consists of a larger rectangular tombstone and mourning figure of a woman who leans her right elbow on the tomb and rests her head in her right hand, which holds a handkerchief. Her head and hair are painted on paper and glued to the silk. The tombstone is topped with a large urn and inked within an oval on the face of the stone is the inscription: "In Memory/ of Peter Ham, who/ departed this life, / July the 24th, 1811. / Aged 11 months." The sky and mountains in the background are painted on silk. The grass, shrubs, and weeping willow tree are embroidered in various shades of greens and yellows.Label TextMemorializing a loved one through embroidery, paint, or ink was common in America during the early decades of the nineteenth century. Schoolteachers in private female academies were quick to adopt the fashion for mourning. The schoolgirl who created this memorial to two young children from the Ham family was likely a sibling.
Inscribed"In Memory/ of Mary Ham/ who died March/ the 4th, 1797.../ Aged 4 years..."
"In Memory/ of Peter Ham, who/ departed this life, / July the 24th, 1811. / Aged 11 months."
ProvenancePurchased by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller from Edith Gregor Halpert, The Downtown Gallery, 113 West 13th Street, NYC, in 1931, and given to Colonial Williamsburg in 1939 (probably). No previous provenance is known.
