Needlework Memorial to John C. Miller by Louisa F. Miller
Date1829-1832
Artist/Maker
Louisa F. Miller
(active ca. 1832)
MediumSilk, silk chenille, and gold embroidery threads, silk ribbon, silk crepe, ink, and paint on a silk ground
DimensionsOH: 23" x OW: 23 1/4"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1958.604.1
DescriptionThis is an embroidered mourning picture within an oval. The outside border consists of brown chenille thread sewn on diagonal, which is outlined by gold metallic threads. Inside the border on the lower left side is a young girl dressed in a long white dress with a yellow bow tied at her back; she is picking silk gauze roses from a tree that stands to the left of a tomb. The girl’s face is painted, and her hair is colored with ink. The tomb consists of a rectangular base with a large urn on top; the inscription painted on rectangular insets located on the base of the urn read: "In Memory of my beloved Father,/John Constantine Miller, born Septr 24th 1762, departed/this Life Septr 30th 1821.Aged 59 years & 6 days." An orange and red flame is painted on top of the urn. A chenille lyre rests to the right side of the urn alongside a wreath of small blue ribbon work flowers. To the right of the memorial is a basket made of satin ribbons woven together, which contains ribbon work roses and blue ribbon work flowers. The tomb sits on a chenille ground and is flanked by two large weeping willows, which are stitched in chenille threads. Behind the urn is a gray and blue painted background. Two buildings, both painted, are in the center back. The building on the left, which is painted in shades of off-white and gray, has an arched window and nine spires; the roofs of the spires are black and three have red windows. The building on the right is pink and gray with a black roof. This piece was framed at the Old Print Shop.
Sttiches: couched, straight
Label TextLouisa F. Miller was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1818. School records indicate that she entered the Lititz Moravian Girls' School in 1829 where three years later she finished this memorial to her deceased father. Known today as Linden Hall School for Girls, the Moravian boarding school offered instruction in English, music, French, German, drawing, painting, and plain and ornamental needlework. Typical of the Moravian ornamental embroidery produced at the school are the ribbon and crepe work, chenille (fuzzy) threads, and round format seen in this picture. The memorial also contains conventional symbols of grief including the weeping willow trees, the wreath of flowers, the urn with eternal flame, and the church in the background.
Inscribed"In Memory of my beloved Father,
John Constantine Miller,
born Septr 24th 1762, departed
this Life Septr 30th 1821.
Aged 59 years & 6 days."
ProvenanceJ. Stuart Halladay and Herrel George Thomas Sheffield, Mass. Halladay died in 1951, leaving his interest in their jointly-owned collection to his partner, Thomas. Thomas died in 1957, leaving his estate to his sister, Mrs. Albert N. Petterson, who was AARFAM's vendor.
History of maker:
Louisa Fredericka Miller was the daughter of John Constantine Miller, a Moravian minister from Saxony, Germany, and Anna Sophia Crist Miller. In 1847, she married John H. Fritz, a Lutheran minister. In 1910, she died in York, Pennsylvania at the age of ninety-two, the last of her family.
