Charity

Description:

After a young lady learned to embroider a sampler, she might attend a female academy to make a silk embroidered picture. This was a more challenging technique that became popular in the early 1800s. Subjects included classical, biblical, and historical scenes, as well as mourning pictures.

In an oval with couched chenille outline, a woman is followed by a child. She carries an infant and a basket of bread, and she is giving bread to a barefoot boy in patched clothing. Framing the oval are wheat-heads, stems, leaves, lilies, and a garland of roses with bow-knots held by a raised ¬work eagle with spread wings. It is worked on an ivory silk ground. The stitches used are satin, long and short, outline, French knot, seed, and couching. The threads are silk, chenille, and metal.

The source of the design is "Charity," an image engraved by C. Stampa in London, 1802. Charity is one of the three theological virtues and is often represented as a female figure. The eagle was a national emblem of victory through the blessings of God, and is often found on other embroideries done at the Misses Patten’s school in Hartford, Connecticut. Misses Sarah, Ruth, and Mary Patten, along with their mother Ruth Wheelock Patten, operated a very successful girls’ school in Hartford, Connecticut from about 1785 to 1825.

Rachel Breck was born on July 22, 1792, to Joseph and Abigail Kingsley Breck of Northampton, Massachusetts. She married George Hooker on June 20, 1819, and they had eight children. Rachel died January 6, 1879, in Long Meadow, Massachusetts. She attended Deerfield Academy in 1806, but embroidered “Charity” at the Misses Patten’s school in Hartford, Connecticut.

Date Made: 1810

Maker: Breck, Rachel

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: Massachusetts, Northampton

See more items in: Home and Community Life: Textiles, Giving in America, Embroidered Pictures, Textiles

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Related Publication: Flynt, Suzanne L.. Ornamental and Useful Accomplishments: Schoolgirl Education and Deerfield Academy

Credit Line: Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Greenwood

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: TE.E388172Catalog Number: E388172Accession Number: 182022

Object Name: silk picture

Physical Description: silk (ground material)Measurements: overall: 14 in x 17 3/4 in; 35.56 cm x 45.085 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-4d35-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1096463

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.