Sally Rea
Adam and Eve
1765
Physical Qualities
Linen ground, silk embroidery threads, 18 1/8 x 15 7/8 in. (46 x 40.3 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Francis White, from the Collection of Mrs. Miles White, Jr.
Object Number
1973.76.343
The biblical story of Adam and Eve resonated with schoolteachers in pre-Revolutionary America, especially those in Boston. Its prevailing use in schoolgirl needlework indicates the continuing relevance of theological issues such as original sin and the proper place of a wife within a marriage. Sally Rea’s rendition of this theme is characteristic of mid-18th-century examples worked in Boston’s North End. A hint at the emerging philosophy that females required an academic education as well as instruction in needlework and other social accomplishments is found in the verse: If Women will not Be Inclin[e]d to Seek the Improve/Ment Of the mind Believe me Sally for it Is tru[e] Parro/tS will talk aS Well aS you.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1973; Nancy Brewster (Mrs. Frances White) by inheritance; Virginia Purviance Bonsal (Mrs. Miles White, Jr.).
Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Lessons Learned: American Schoolgirl Embroideries," November 23, 2014- May 10, 2015.
Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'The Accomplished Stitch,' May 11- July 20, 1997, checlist no. 6.
William Voss Elder III, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'American Folk Art From The Baltimore Museum of Art and Local Collections,' April 4-June 18, 1978, cat. 113, p. 17.
Susan Cumins, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Period Needlework in America 1739-1865,' 1978, cat. 2, ill.; traveling exhibition circulated Arundel Center, Annapolis; Cecil County Public Library, Elkton; City Hall Museum and Cultural Center, Salisbury; The Museum in the Mall, Columbia; St. Mary's County Memorial Library, Leonardtown; St. Timothy's School, Stevenson; Washington 'The White Collection,' BMA, March 19-June 2, 1974.
Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'The Accomplished Stitch,' May 11- July 20, 1997, checlist no. 6.
William Voss Elder III, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'American Folk Art From The Baltimore Museum of Art and Local Collections,' April 4-June 18, 1978, cat. 113, p. 17.
Susan Cumins, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Period Needlework in America 1739-1865,' 1978, cat. 2, ill.; traveling exhibition circulated Arundel Center, Annapolis; Cecil County Public Library, Elkton; City Hall Museum and Cultural Center, Salisbury; The Museum in the Mall, Columbia; St. Mary's County Memorial Library, Leonardtown; St. Timothy's School, Stevenson; Washington 'The White Collection,' BMA, March 19-June 2, 1974.
Linda Andre, "Adam and Eve, by Elizabeth Dewhirk, " Looking & Learning section, School Arts Magazine (August/September 2009), n.p., illustrated as comparative.
William Voss Elder III, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'American Folk Art From The Baltimore Museum of Art and Local Collections,' April 4-June 18, 1978, cat. 113, p. 17.
Susan Cumins, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Period Needlework in America 1739-1865,' 1978, cat. 2, ill.; traveling exhibition circulated Arundel Center, Annapolis; Cecil County Public Library, Elkton; City Hall Museum and Cultural Center, Salisbury; The Museum in the Mall, Columbia; St. Mary's County Memorial Library, Leonardtown; St. Timothy's School, Stevenson; Washington 'The White Collection,' BMA, March 19-June 2, 1974.
Ethel Stanwood Bolton and Eve Johnston Coe, American Samplers, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1973, p. 71; pl. XXII opposite p. 59.
Inscribed: Signed in stitches at the bottom of the sampler: 'Sally Rea IS My Name & With My Needle I Wrou/ght the Same 1766'
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