Rare Embroidered and Painted Silk Mourning Picture, Mary W. Burroughs, probably Boston, circa 1805

Worked in silk, paint, pen and ink on silk; inscribed on the glass Done By Mary W. Burroughs. In what appears to be the original frame and glass. Rope twist may be replacement.

Cora Ginsburg, New York, July 1980

American Needlework Treasures: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection of Betty Ring at the Museum of American Folk Art  (p. 63, fig. 101) 

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Mary's memorial and several others of similar design were no doubt worked at a school in or near Boston. Mary Wain Whittemore Burroughs (c. 1743-1796) and Sarah Whittemore (1767-1798) of Charlestown. On December 24, 1809, she married Charlestown brass founder and potter Barnabas Edmonds (1778-1872). They had seven children.

Mary Wain Whittemore Burroughs was the second oldest of five children. (Additional information provided by Carol and Stephen Huber).