Page 17 - Demo

Silk Embroidered Mourning Picture, Captain and Mrs. Crocker, circa 1808, Massachusetts According to Betty Ring (Girlhood Embroidery, Volume I, page 21) the majority of early 19th century mourning pieces \made as a record and a decoration, rather than an expression of current grief, and they were the result of fashion rather than melancholy.\Our very handsome example, made for Captain Zacheus Crocker, who died August 20th, 1806, and his wife Bathsheba Crocker, who died October 29th, 1807, was most certainly worked by their only daughter, Achsah Crocker. She would have been approximately 18 years old when she worked this mourning embroidery, and was clearly interested in creating a decorative and fashionable picture. The delicately rendered parasols, veils, and clothing (including the embroidery of the gentleman's stockings) is wonderfully balanced by the vigorous needlework forming the trees and ground. It is clear that Achsah Crocker was working under the instruction of a fine teacher of needlework. Captain Zacheus Crocker was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts in Cape Cod in 173 7. He was a captain in the Revolutionary War and apparently a man of some influence. Captain Crocker was a delegate to the Massachusetts Convention of 1788 which was called to consider the new federal constitution. By about 1790 he was living in Sunderland (Franklin County) and married his second wife, the widow Bathsheba Caswell Smith. With their daughter Achsah, they later moved to Malden (Essex County), where Captain and Mrs. Crocker are buried. It is interesting to note that the three mourners depicted in this picture are, no doubt, the needleworker and her two older half-siblings. These three children were the only surviving children of Captain Crocker by the year 1808. This silk embroidery is in excellent condition, wrought in silk and paint on silk with the epitaph printed onto paper which was then applied to the silk. The reverse paint mat is a later replacement which follows the exact outline of the picture. The piece has been conservation mounted into a gilt frame, also a later replacement. Needlework size: 17\Price: $5,500. M. Finkel e9 Daughter. DDDDDDDD 13 (Detail)