James Ware Memorial Embroidery, Julia Ware (c. 1789-1860), Mary Balch's School, Providence, Rhod...

James Ware Memorial Embroidery, Julia Ware (c. 1789-1860), Mary Balch's School, Providence, Rhode Island, c. 1805. Woven silk ground worked in chenille and silk threads to depict three women in mourning attire by a finely shaded stone monument inscribed 'Sacred / to the memory / of / JAMES WARE, / who died Oct. 16th, / 1793. aged 13, / Years.' in an oval surround, flanked by the prose 'Were death denied, to live would not be life. / Here weeping friendship, oft with silent tears, Will mourn a loss so great, in early years.', surmounted by a large willow tree worked in gradated fields of beige, green, blue, and brown, the hilly foreground worked in satin-stitched bands of the same colors, the faces and arms of women painted, signed 'Julia Ware.' at base of monument, sight, 58cm wide, 40cm high (23 1/4in wide, 16 1/4in high). Footnotes: Estimate Revised. Provenance A Longmeadow, Massachusetts, collection. Exhibitions 'Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee: Needlework in the Education of Rhode Island Women, 1730-1830,' Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence, Rhode Island, 6 November 1983-22 January 1984; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, 24 February-20 May 1984; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, 19 July-23 September 1984. Published in exhibition catalogue by Betty Ring (Providence: Rhode Island Historical Society, 1983), cat. no. 78. Note James Ware (1782-95), son of Nathaniel and Abigail (Mann) Ware, as well as his sister Julia, are buried at Wrentham Center Cemetery, Wrentham, Massachusetts. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing