Beschreibung:

The Phillips Family Needlework Picture, Sarah Phillips (b. Rowley, Massachusetts, 1656), Boston, Massachusetts, c. 1670, worked in red, blue, yellow, black, and white wool and silver and gold metallic threads on a blue/green linen ground, composed of two figures flanking the "Tree of Life" at center, the prodigal son at lower right, a brick building facade with mica "window" at right center, a cloud and partially obscured sun at upper left, and a rainbow at upper right, further stitched with a shepherd and his flock, leafy trees, flowers, a pomegranate, several birds, insects, and animals including a dog, a squirrel, a rabbit, a recumbent lion, a beaver, and a recumbent stag, under glass in a molded wood frame, (survives in a remarkable state of preservation, with minor losses, some discoloration), 17 1/4 x 24 1/4 in. Provenance: Preserved by the Phillips family for more than three centuries, the Sarah Phillips needlework picture has a long and well-documented provenance. Sarah Phillips (1656-1707) was a daughter of Reverend Samuel Phillips (1625-1696) who immigrated to America from Boxted, England in 1630 on the ship Arbella with his parents Reverend George and Elizabeth Phillips settling in Watertown, MA. Reverend George Phillips (c. 1593-1644) was the first minister of Watertown, MA. Reverend Samuel Phillips graduated from Harvard College in 1650 and settled in Rowley, MA in 1651. He married Sarah Appleton that same year and with her had eleven children including Sarah (1656-1707). Sarah was reportedly educated at a private school in Boston where she likely stitched her needlepoint picture in the late 1660s or early 1670s. Sarah Phillips married Stephen Mighill (1651-1687) in 1680 and had at least three children together. The needlepoint picture descended through their son, Nathaniel's (1684-1761) family passing to Nathaniel's son Nathaniel (1715-1788) then to his daughter Hannah Mighill Perley (1753-1812), then to her daughter Hannah Perley (1772-1858). Hannah Perley is documented as having owned Sarah Phillips' needlepoint picture in Thomas Gage's The History of Rowley published in 1840. On September 5, 1839, the town of Rowley celebrated its second centennial anniversary of its settlement. Much of the festivities occurred in a pavilion erected in the town to host a dinner and several orations on the historic occasion. In this pavilion were also displayed "relics" of Rowley's past including "A piece of embroidery of curious workmanship, wrought by Sarah Phillips, (daughter of the Rev. Samuel Phillips, the second minister of Rowley,) more than one hundred and sixty years ago, attracted much attention, and is now owned by Miss Hannah Perley, the said Sarah Phillips being grandmother to the said Hannah's grandfather…" It may have been the needlepoint's exhibition in Rowley that prompted the penning of its short history on the picture frame's wooden backing board reading "This picture was/wrought at a boarding/school in Boston by/Miss Sarah Phillips/ daughter of Rev. Sam./Phillips." Shortly after the celebration, it seems, the needlepoint picture was transferred to Hannah Perley's cousin Hannah Lancaster Sawyer (1754-1851), a great-granddaughter of Sarah Phillips. In December 1842 the picture was purchased from Hannah Lancaster Sawyer for thirty dollars by the Honorable Jonathan Phillips (1778-1860). Jonathan Phillips was a direct descendent of Sarah Phillips' brother Samuel (1658-1722) and a celebrated Boston philanthropist. There is no doubt that the needlework picture purchased by Jonathan Phillips in 1842 is the Sarah Phillips needlework. In a letter written to Jonathan Phillips on December 3 by Ann Tracy, a relative of Jonathan's facilitating the sale, Tracy describes the picture and ponders its symbolism and iconography: "With how lordly a bearing do those portly sheep trample mid-air as if they were walking on this terrible earth! And that powerful beast - placed in the region of the clouds, & of the rainbow - is the s