Quillwork hatchment of Dering coat of arms

Mary Dering|Elizabeth Dering

1731 · Paper, mica, pearls, wood, glass · The American Wing

Throughout the eighteenth century, members of Boston’s newly prosperous merchant class decorated silver, bookplates, coaches, and tombstones with coats of arms to display their heraldic ancestry. Between 1720 and 1740, quillwork coats of arms were popular schoolgirl accomplishments. This lozenge-shaped hatchment was likely created for Henry E. Dering (1684–1750) by one of his daughters, Elizabeth or Mary. It features the Dering coat of arms, granted to a British ancestor of the girls’ grandfather Henry Dering, who emigrated to Boston in the 1660s.

Artist

Mary Dering|Elizabeth Dering

Date

1731

Medium

Paper, mica, pearls, wood, glass

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1938