Coming up for auction on February 4th 2016 with James D Julia in the US

Estimated Price: $18,000 – $22,000

Description: Second half 18th century, probably Fredericksburg, Virginia. This silk work wrought by Mildred Gregory Washington (1777-1805), daughter of Charles Washington and niece of General George Washington. Mildred Gregory Washington, second wife of Captain Thomas Hammond of Charles Town, Jefferson County, Virginia was married until her death in 1804/05. Capt. Thomas Hammond then married Nancy Newton Collins in 1807, retaining the silk work within their family. Their son, George Washington Hammond married Sarah Ann Taylor, retaining the silk work in their family. Their daughters were Florinda Jones Hammond (1846-1922) and Mary Mildred Hammond (1836-1933). Mary Mildred Sillivan (nee Hammond) took stewardship of the silk work. Subsequently she gifted the silk work to her niece, Elizabeth Tilford Keferstein (1874-1941), daughter of Florinda Hammond Tilford and John Boyle Tilford, Jr. A family quilt exists, fashioned over a period of 6 years by the three wives of Captain Thomas Hammond including Mildory Gregory Washington and Nancy Newton Collins. The silk and chenille embroidered picture depicting a young woman in a fitted pale blue jacket with dark trim, with a brimmed cap, wearing a blue and gold striped full length skirt and black shoes, holding a hay rake in her right hand. She is facing a young man in blue jacket with white trousers and leggings, black shoes with buckles and seated on a haystack beside a seated dog, holding a pitchfork, all on a grassy foreground. They are positioned beneath a large central willow tree, a bird flying within. The middle ground with spotted pig, fence, and small farmhouse. Rendered overall in muted and subdued tones of golds, silvers, greens and blues. This rare folk art rendition with similarities to the rural themes seen in the “Fishing Lady” embroideries of Boston and also with regional characteristics of rural Virginia, Frederick County in the 18th century. References: The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Collection of family documents from the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives Room, Handley Regional Library, Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, Winchester, Virginia. For additional background information of the the family see “Uplifting of the South” by Kathleen Curtis Wilson and “Mary Mildred Sullivan (Mrs. Algernon Sydney Sullivan) A Biography” by Anne Middleton Holmes. Accompanied by a typed history titled, “EARLY AMERICAN SILK EMBROIDERY Ð A Family Relic”, documented and written by George Hammond Sullivan, son of Algernon Sydney Sullivan and Mary Mildred Hammond Sullivan, New York, September 1, 1923. It is our opinion that this is a rare and superior example of 18th Century Folk Art needlework worthy of any serious collector’s attention with extraordinary potential for appreciation. SIZE: Sight 15_ x 12-1/4_. CONDITION: The silk work in very good structural condition. The foundation now a medium brown from age with some deeper discoloration in area around the young woman’s torso. There is also some fraying to the foundation along the borders of the work, outside the borders of the stitching. The colors are somewhat faded, but present a pleasing overall tonality.