Rare Gift Drawing for Ursula Bishop, Polly Ann (Jane) Reed (1818-1881) New Lebanon, Columbia County, New York, circa 1844

Ink on cut paper

Together with a Gift Drawing for Eleanor Potter, a Gift Drawing for Jane Smith, and a Gift Drawing from Holy Mother Wisdom to Sally Lomise, all framed together.



Inscribed recto, ink: The Word of the Holy Heavenly Father /To a Daughter of his Love./Come unto me, 0 thou little innocent lamb of my /love, pleasure and delight. For lo! thy Father in/Heaven doth behold thee with pleasure, and with/smiles of joy doth he greet thee, 0 thou well-belov--ed Saint of his glory. For thou hast faithfully /laboured in his holy vinyard, hast honored thy /Mother, and borne the t of thy blefsed Saviour; /hast traveled in sorrow, and mourned in/grief. Yet thou hast ever praised & /honored thy God,for his condesen-/sion and goodnefs to thy soul./ So cheer up thy spirit and/be strong, for the ar-/mies of Heaven/ will help theel along,/to; verso, ink: a mansion of rest of quietnefs / and peace, Where all mortal sorrows will e-/ternally cease. Where with holy Angels and /Seraphs thou shalt join, In my arbor of love, Eter-/nal and sublime. Beyond the vain terrestrial, yea / the fading things of time, Where eternal joys / shall ever-more be thine. So come & receive a crown of /my holy love, and on thy bugle shout, the song of sweet mirth/Ursula BIshop./A holy Princefs/of righteousefs, /Crowned with/Eternal/ glory.

Charles "Bud" Thompson, Canterbury, New Hampshire
Milton Sherman, Armonk, NY, 1990
David A. Schorsch, New York, New York

"Every Picture Tells a Story: Word and Image in American Folk Art," American Folk Art Museum, 1994-1995
"Millennial Dreams: Vision and Prophecy in American Folk Art," American Folk Art Museum, 1999-2000
"Blue," New York, American Folk Art Museum, October 20, 2004-March 6, 2005
"Women Only: Folk Art by Female Hands," New York, American Folk Art Museum, April 6-September 12, 2010
"Jubilation/Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined," New York, American Folk Art Museum, January 17-September 2, 2012

American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, pp. 315-316, figs. 276-279

All in very good condition.
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A receptiveness to visions and prophecy has shaped the beliefs of the Shakers from early in their history. The roots of the small religious community lie in 18th century Lancashire, England, and the visionary experiences of Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784), who founded the faith and brought it to America in 1774. For Ann Lee and her followers, revelation was not confined to the pages of the Bible but represented a continuing process.

Over a period of twenty or more years that began in 1837, an intense religious revival swept through the Shaker villages. During this period—known in Shaker history as the Era of Manifestations or Mother's Work—Believers accepted trances, prophetic utterances, speaking in tongues, spirit communications, and other visionary experiences as a part of daily life. These phenomena were recognized as "gifts" by the Shaker leadership, following the language of the New Testament: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of light" (James 1:17).

Among other manifestations, thousands of gift messages and songs were "received by inspiration" and recorded during this period. The Believers who received and transmitted these gifts were recognized as "instruments." Some talented Shakers were inspired to create drawings as well. Although they are far less common than other Shaker visionary expressions, gift drawings should be understood in the context of the oral and written gifts; all these forms share equivalent symbolic language and imagery. They generally offer messages of encouragement, consolation, or exhortation from deceased Shaker leaders or figures from sacred history, and they may bestow spiritual presents such as crowns or baskets of fruit on their recipients. Just over two hundred gift drawings survive, all but a few of them the work of women.

Polly Reed was one of the most accomplished Shaker artists. Among other works, a series of exquisite two-sided heart-shaped drawings is attributed to her, each inscribed to an individual Believer. At least twenty-seven of Reed's heart-shaped gifts survive. Those that are dated invariably bear the year 1844, very early in the eleven-year period in which she is known to have created gift drawings.¹ At this time, Reed's work was principally textual in nature, although some of the emblematic figures that typify her later, more elaborate compositions may appear. This drawing is inscribed to Ursula Bishop, a member of the First Order of the Church, New Lebanon, New York, where the artist also resided. -G.C.W.

¹ Daniel W. Patterson, Gift Drawing and Gift Song: A Study of Two Forms of Shaker Inspiration (Sabbathday Lake, Maine: United Society of Shakers, 1983), pp. 80-82