THE RIDGEWAY FAMILY FINE SILK AND METALLIC THREAD EMBROIDERED COAT OF ARMS, POSSIBLY THE ELEANOR DRUITT SCHOOL, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1770 |

Inscribed By the Name of Ridgeway; worked in satin stitch on a silk ground, retains the original frame and glass.

Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc., New York, July 1980;
Vogel Collection no. 329.

Some splitting to black silk along left lower side, a 1 in. split at left corner, 3 in. from the corner edge. Some losses to white silk stitching on leaf scrolling in the same area, right side corner. Some loose black silk threads on background along right upper side edge. Purchasers may pay for and pick up their purchases from any of our Americana Week sales taking place from January 17-20, 2019, at our York Avenue headquarters until the close of business on Sunday, January 20, 2019. After this time, all property (sold and unsold) will be transferred to our offsite facility, Crozier Fine Art, One Star Ledger Plaza, 69 Court Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102. Once property has been transferred from our York Avenue location, it will not be available for collection at Crozier Fine Arts until Friday, January 25, 2019. Crozier's hours of operation for collection are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday-Friday. Please note, certain items of property, including but not limited to jewelry, watches, silver and works on panel will remain at 1334 York Avenue. Invoices and statements will indicate your property's location. For more information regarding collection from our offsite facility, please visit sothebys.com/pickup.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This elegant coat of arms for the Ridgeway family is worked in a pattern attributed to the Boston heraldic artist John Gore (1718-1797), who worked with his son, Samuel (1750/1-1831), at a shop located at the Sign of the Painter’s Arms on Queen Street in Boston. Gore and his son drew the same basic patterns for various Boston schoolmistresses until at least 1796, and from heraldic publications in their possession they often supplied an appropriate coat of arms related to the student’s surname (see Betty Ring, “Heraldic Embroidery in Eighteenth-Century Boston,” Magazine Antiques, October 1992, pp. 622-31). The Ridgeway coat of arms, like other worked Boston coats of arms, was created by a young lady student at a Boston embroidery school and was intended to be a prestigious domestic decoration that reflected advanced embroidery skills.  It is richly worked with costly metallic threads on black silk, with evidence of the original stenciled pattern remaining on the silk ground. The raised design consisting of flowing acanthus leaves, a shield centering a pair of wings and a three-part banner covers the space available within the frame. The distinctive motto ribbons include the family name, Ridgeway, in cross-stitched black threads.

A closely related embroidered coat of arms is also in the Vogel Collection and offered as lot ___. It is for the Cutts family and embroidered by Sarah Cutts (1774-1845) while a student at the Eleanor Druitt School in Boston (see Magazine Antiques, October 1946, p. 242). It was on long-term loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the time. The coat of arms was later acquired by the Vogels from a direct descendant through Bernard & S. Dean Levy in 1974. Her sister, Elizabeth (1766-1810) worked a similar coat of arms, currently in in the collection of the York Institute Museum, also while a student of Eleanor Druitt. Both girls were daughters of Thomas Cutts (1736-1821) and Elizabeth (Scammon) (1745-1803) of Saco, Maine, who married in 1793.

Other related examples of the same general pattern also worked on a black silk ground include an embroidered coat of arms for the Derby family that sold at Northeast Auctions, August 5-7, 2005, lot 1397; one from the Walley family that sold at Northeast Auctions on August 5-6, 1995; the Parker and Mayhew coat of arms that sold at Skinner, October 27, 1996, sale 1740, lot 1; one from the Cheever family and one from the Bartlett family that both sold at Sotheby’s on June 17, 1997, lots 333 and 334; one sold at Pook and Pook, September 12, 1998, lot 220; and one from the Russell family of Salem that sold at Northeast Auctions in Oct./Nov. 2003, lot 1591.