Artist/Maker

Stetson, Mary Ann

Place Made

Date Made

1818

Medium

silk

Dimensions

HOA: 16; WOA: 20

Accession Number

3569

Description

Embroidered picture, silk on silk. Design features a straw basket of flowers resting on a grassy surface encompassed by a thin line. Inscription is below. Satin stitches in silk floss and chenille threads.

MAKER: Mary Ann Stetson (1806-1880) was born on August 25, 1806 to Richmond merchant Benjamin Stetson (1768-1831) and his wife, Ann Lyle (1768-1806). She would have completed this needlework as a twelve-year-old student at Euphania Ferguson’s school. On January 6, 1825, Mary Ann married Joseph Allen, who served as clerk of the superior court in Richmond.

TEACHER: After “relinquishing her situation as Preceptress” of the Female Academy of Hertford in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, Euphania W. Ferguson moved to Richmond, where she opened “an Institution for the tuition of young Ladies, in all branches of Female Education.” These “polite and necessary branches” included “ENGLISH LANGUAGE; including Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Grammar, Orthography, Geography, use of Globes…Embroidery, Plain and Ornamental Needle Work…Drawing and Painting, on paper, silk, and velvet, together with Landscape Painting…Miniature and Portrait Painting…Head Painting in water, chalks and oil colors…and Music, $5 entrance, and 75cts per lesson.” (Richmond Commercial Compiler, 22 Sept. 1817)
INSCRIPTION: In ink below design: “Mary Ann Stetson, Richmond, 20 July 1818, Euphania Ferguson’s Seminary”

History

TEACHER: After “relinquishing her situation as Preceptress” of the Female Academy of Hertford in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, Euphania W. Ferguson moved to Richmond, where she opened “an Institution for the tuition of young Ladies, in all branches of Female Education.” These “polite and necessary branches” included “ENGLISH LANGUAGE; including Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Grammar, Orthography, Geography, use of Globes…Embroidery, Plain and Ornamental Needle Work…Drawing and Painting, on paper, silk, and velvet, together with Landscape Painting…Miniature and Portrait Painting…Head Painting in water, chalks and oil colors…and Music, $5 entrance, and 75cts per lesson.” (Richmond Commercial Compiler, 22 Sept. 1817)

Artist Biography

ARTIST: The artist, Mary Ann Stetson, has not yet been identified. Benjamin Stetson, a Richmond merchant, married Nancy Lyle on 30 March 1805; perhaps they were Mary Ann’s parents.

Credit Line

MESDA Purchase Fund