Annual Delaware Antiques Show 2019

Artwork that communicates private memories also enables us to imaginatively bridge the gap in time from the earliest owners. The skillful and colorful crewel needlepoint stitches covering a Bible suggest reverence for the role this book played within a family (fig. 4) . The maker, Mrs. Hugh McCulloch, obviously treasured the book, and it most likely traveled with her and her husband from Dublin to a new life in Philadelphia. The cover conveys a desire for not only botanical decoration and personalization but also protection for the contents, which include a family genealogy. Also a memorialized remembrance, the tiny buckle that Irish immigrant Philip Syng, Jr., made in Philadelphia for a woman’s gown communicates emotion just by the secret heart outlined beneath the gold rococo-style frame (fig. 5) . Owned first by Sarah Jervis Sandwith, her initials, SS, are engraved on the underside. We do not need a love letter to understand the meaning spelled out in the precious metal. Fig. 4. Holy Bible and Book of Common Prayer , needlepoint cover attributed to Mrs. Hugh McCulloch, Dublin, Ireland, 1741. Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont 1967.0899 Fig. 5. Gold buckle, marked by Philip Syng, Jr., Philadelphia, 1740–50. Gift of Mr. Lammot du Pont Copeland 1968.0304 — 24 —