Collections record Beta

Needlework - Harbor Scene

2016-62-1

Painted silk needlework of a harbor scene worked in green, blue, brown, tan, red, pink, and cream silk thread and brown and tan chenille yarn on a silk ground. The needlework has a rectangular, vertical format with a central medallion depicting a house in the foreground with water and a harbor in the background. Georgian style, three-storied house with hip roof, four chimneys, front door with arched top, and central arched window. House faces a yard with lattice fence running along the waterfront side. Behind the house to the right is a river or inlet running between cliffs toward a large, waterfront town with numerous visible structures. Four ships are visible on the water, the closest of which appears to be anchored. Trees to the far left and right. Central medallion bordered with a bronze metallic Vitruvian scroll or running dog pattern. Silk embroidered swag of flowers above with central, silver metallic bow. Half-garland of floral branches underneath. The picture is framed behind what is likely the original glazing, with eglomise of black and gold. Significant sections of black paint and gilt decoration are incomplete. The frame is of wooden cove molding with rudimentary egg-and-dart interior molding. Paper backing containing two handwritten notes on the piece's provenance. Frame is of brown wood with small traces of gold paint; may have been a gilt frame at some point.

Two labels are affixed to the back of the frame. One is extremely faded, but the following can be made out: “Miss______ School, Litchfield, Connecticut.” The name after Miss appears to include the letters i, e, and c (likely Pierce or Pierce’s). The other label gives a history of ownership: “This embroidered picture was left to Charles E. Babcock by his Aunt Mary H. Bond. He loaned it to his Aunt Katharine H. Hamlin as it is her mother’s work. To be returned [to him] any time he may want it.” The Annual Report of the Connecticut Historical Society from 1897 lists a Mrs. Katharine H. Hamlin as the daughter of Royal Ralph Hinman, a student at the Law School in 1806. Hinman also had a daughter named Mary Elizabeth, who married Thomas H. Bond. Hinman’s other daughter, Lydia Ann, married Charles E. Babcock and had a son named Charles H. Babcock. Assuming that the creator of the label mis-remembered Charles Babcock’s middle initial (it would have been Lydia’s son Charles H. Babcock who was left the embroidery, not her husband), the family relations all point to the Hinman family as the original owners. The embroidery would have been completed by Lydia Ashley Hinman (1788-1853), Royal Ralph’s wife. Lydia was the granddaughter of Col. John Ashley of Sheffield, from whom Elizabeth Freeman (Mumbet) successfully attained her freedom in Brom and Betts v. Ashley in 1781. Freeman’s lawyer, Theodore Sedgwick, sought the assistance of Tapping Reeve for her defense. The Historical Society does not currently have Lydia listed as a Litchfield Female Academy student, but she would have attended during the period when extant records are most incomplete. Nine known students from Sheffield, Lydia’s hometown, attended the LFA between 1813 and 1831.

A needlework embroidery with a similar harbor scene (same style Georgian house with similar placement of trees, yard, water and harbor town, also with Vitruvian scroll; differing fence design and direction and lacking defined cliffs) was offered for sale by Sotheby's in 2015. The piece was by Electa Hale, believed to be the sister of Nancy Hale who attended the LFA and completed The Cottage Girl embroidery (collection of Connecticut Historical Society). Staff could not confirm that Electa had attended or was believed to have attended the LFA, and decided not to bid on the piece. However, the similarity of the two harbor scenes points to the probability that the makers were using printed source material.

• Hinman, Lydia Ashley (1788-1853)

1800-1810

In frame: Height 20.5", Width 18.5", Depth 1.5"

• paint
• glass
• watercolor
• silk
• wool
• wood