Embroidered Picture - Dutch Reformed Church, Middletown, New Jersey

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Embroidered Picture - Dutch Reformed Church, Middletown, New Jersey

Period1859

MediumPlied wool crewel yarn, plied silk thread and plied cotton thread on heavy perforated paper

Dimensions15.63 × 15.63 in. (39.7 × 39.7 cm)

SignedThe panel is signed with the single name "Emma" worked in the extreme lower right corner.

ClassificationsNeedlework

Credit LineGift of Mrs. J. Amory Haskell, 1936

Object number1998.563

DescriptionA turquoise blue heavy paper square panel with 18 perforations per inch, worked in plied wool crewel yarn and plied cotton thread in dark green, olive green, khaki green, red, dull brick red, dull orange, brown, medium gray, light gray, white, and black. The stitches are all simply placed, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, to suggest depth and shadow. In the center of the panel is worked the simple architectural lines of a white church building, with a recessed front entry, gray shingled roof, and five visible green shuttered windows along one side. A front steeple is topped with a red arrow weather vane. Light gray foundation stones, worked in light gray wool and white wool, are visible along the long side, while smaller bright red bricks highlighted with fine cotton sewing thread, are worked along the front foundation, beneath the entry door and steps. Two sets of steps lead from the church's front door to the road, with a low red brick retaining wall flanking the bottom set. Two leafy trees flank either end of the building. A simple white picket fence encloses the church yard, and a number of small gravestones are depicted within the graveyard, tiny black cotton threads atop the white wool crewel yarn suggesting headstone inscriptions. Several of the headstones can be seen below the overlaid picket fence stitches. Above the church, in the upper right portion of the panel is the inscription "Dutch Reformed / Church. / Middletown. / N.J. / 1859," worked in two tones of red silk thread. On the far lower right corner is worked the name "Emma" in dull orange wool crewel yarn. A narrow dagged-edge border is worked along the left, top, and right edges of the paper panel in grayish pink yarn.
Curatorial RemarksThis pictorial panel is the largest perforated paper embroidery in the Association's collection. Heavy paper sheets, punched with small, evenly spaced holes by machine dies, were available in a variety of colors beginning in the 1850s. At its most popular from about 1860 to 1900, perforated paper embroideries were sometimes referred to as "poor woman's samplers." The punched paper was offered in differing "counts," or holes per inch, from 8 to 10 holes per inch to the finest and most difficult to work at 20 to 24 holes per inch. Emma, the unidentified creator of Reformed Church scene, worked her stitches on an 18-count panel. Punched paper panels, combined with the array of inexpensive chemically-dyed bright wool crewel yarns available beginning in the 1840s, placed embroidery projects within the reach of many women whose pocketbooks could not afford the more costly linen and silk threads used in earlier samplers. Women's publications such as Godey's Lady's Book included all sorts of projects using perforated paper sheets, from needle cases and bookmarks to hanging wall pockets. Some companies offered punched paper in pre-printed with designs and patterns, often printed with a motto such as "Home Sweet Home," which could be framed and hung in a parlor for a bright and cheerful decoration. The large depiction of the Middletown Reformed Church, however, was completely an original work, either designed by Emma herself or by an unidentified needlework teacher. The needlework used within the panel is good, but with some areas of slightly awkward stitch placement. This may indicate that Emma was an older girl or young teenager, perhaps between eleven and fifteen, working under the tutelage of an instructress with an excellent embroidery and artistic background.NotesIt is unfortunate that young Emma did not stitch in her last name so that she could properly be recognized for working this unusual and very accurate depiction of the Middletown Reformed Church in Middletown, Monmouth County, as it appeared in 1859. It's safe to assume that her family were quite probably members of the congregation. The cornerstone of the church was laid in June of 1836 on a lot where the Middletown Academy formerly stood. The original design called for a sanctuary forty feet wide and forty-seven feet deep, with a ten foot portico on the street facade. Four giant Doric order columns and a square tower graced the front of the church, making it one of the highest statements of Greek Revival architecture in Monmouth County at the time. The structure, which cost $3,500, was opened and dedicated on 9 December 1836. It has seen many changes since its completion. In 1856, modifications to the church included replacement of the square tower with a new spire, and removal of the graceful columned portico. That space was enclosed to create a vestibule as the original exterior front door entered directly into the sanctuary. The new facade arrangement included a recessed entrance. The church reopened on 21 September 1856. Church member David Luyster and Crawford Morris, a builder and mason respectively, completed the work at a cost of $1,800. So the needlework picture, undertaken three years after the renovations were finished, captures the church at this phase in its architectural evolution. A photograph of the building taken by near neighbor Edward Taylor (1848 - 1911) about 1890 shows how correctly Emma depicted it, even to recessed entrance and the tombstones to the rear of the sanctuary that were in part an early Johnson family cemetery on the property. The only exterior change since 1856 involved the alteration of the window and belfry openings in 1880 to a restrained pointed Gothic shape. Another major renovation project carried out in 1898 and 1899 changed the street front for a second time to its present appearance with two rooms on either side and in front of the entrance. The presence of the cemetery behind the church made it difficult to extend the building in that direction. So as the structure was enlarged, it was built out toward the street in spite of its elevated site that has always required a long flight of stairs to reach the entrance.

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