Quilted bed cover

Crewelwork embroidery
originally bed hangings

Embroidered by: Mary Drew Fifield (American, 1672–1713)
Embroidered by: Mary Fifield Adams (American, 1694–1748)
Reworked by: Miss Mary Avery White (1778–1860)

American

about 1713 (orignal bed hangings)

Place of Origin: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Medium/Technique Linen and cotton twill (fustian) with wool embroidery; pieced and quilted

Dimensions 209 x 215 cm (82 5/16 x 84 5/8 in.)

Credit Line Gift of Mrs. E. Emerson Evans

Accession Number1972.910

NOT ON VIEW

CollectionsAmericas, Fashion and Textiles

ClassificationsTextiles

DescriptionBed cover made from bed curtains originally created by Mrs. Mary Fifield (2nd wife of Richard) about 1713 assisted by her step-daughter Mary, mother of Samuel Adams, Governor of Massachusetts.

InscriptionsWritten ink on piece of linen stitched to reverse: "Wrought by Mrs. Mary Fifield of Boston Mass, about the year 1714, assisted by her daughter Mary, mother of the late Samuel Adams, Governor of Massachusetts"

ProvenanceMade from set of bed hangings embroidered before 1713 by Mary (Drew) Fifield (1672-1713) and her step-daughter Mary Fifield (1694-1748), who married Boston brewer Samuel Adams (b. 1689) in 1713; Bed hangings inherited by daughter Mary Adams (b. 1717), who married Boston tailor James Allen in 1742; Bed hangings inherited by daughter Mary Adams (1754-1842), who married the Rev. Joseph Avery of Holden, Massachusetts; Valance and two smaller curtains and other sections of bed hangings made into bedcover by daughter Mary Avery (1778-1860) probably shortly before her marriage to Aaron White on June 4, 1798; Lent to the MFA in 1928; Gift to the MFA from Mary Avery White's descendent Mrs. E. Emerson Evans of Framingham in 1972