Adam and Eve Needlework Picture

Description:

Adam and Eve Needlework Picture, "Lydia Doggett Her Work," probably Boston, Massachusetts, c.1750, worked in wool and silk threads on linen, depicting Adam and Eve beneath the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil with the serpent encircling the trunk, flanking them are two animals, possibly a dog and a sheep, another fruit tree, and a small pond with swimming ducks, (unfinished, small areas of thread loss),sight size 17 1/4 x 26 3/8 in., framed.

Note: This lot reflects early needlework accomplishments characteristic of examples executed by young ladies educated in Boston in the 18th century. Those depicting Adam and Eve are the city's earliest recognizable needleworks. Several Lydia Doggetts lived in the Boston area in the mid- to late 18th century, and it is unclear which hand made this sampler. An undated and unsigned Boston needlework picture depicting an identical scene and probably made in the same school, previously in the Bernice Chrysler Garbish Collection, was sold in 1983 by Benjamin Ginsburg. This lot was probably produced at the same time as the Ginsburg piece, but left unfinished and augmented in the late 18th century, as it seems another hand's work also appears on the sampler, perhaps by Lydia Doggett of Newburyport, Massachusetts. She may have shared the name with the original maker, for it was common in New England to pass women's names from generation to generation as a means of maintaining identity and stability in New England's patriarchal society.
Estimate $6,000-8,000

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