RARE MRS. BUCHANAN'S SCHOOL, LANCASTER CO., PENNSYLVANIA SILK-EMBROIDERED NEEDLEWORK PICTURE, silk, hair, and paint on linen gauze, depicting two women with drawn faces, wearing hats, Empire dresses, and long gloves, featuring one figure seated on a bench tending to flowers in a pot with a tree draped above on the right side, the other figure standing with watering can in hand taking care of the garden on the left side of the scene, lower fourth divided into three sections with floral motifs flanking signature, which reads "Hariet Hollinger her work made in Maytown / in Mrs Buchanans school in the year of our / Lord 1824 she was born March the 17 in the / year of our Lord 1813 a Daughter of [G]eorge / and Margaret Hollinger". Housed under acrylic in a modern frame. Dated 1824. 15 3/4" x 12 3/4" sight, 18 7/8" x 15 7/8" OA.
Literature: Information about and needleworks from Mrs. Buchanan's School, see Ring - Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, pp. 422-427. Parallels Ring - American Needlework Treasures: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection of Betty Ring, pp. 46-47, fig. 80, illustrated needlework sold at Sotheby's, New York, 1/22/2012, lot 650; and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, accession no. 1941-69-26, object ID 18564257.
Catalogue Note: The maker is likely identified as Hariet (Harriet) Hollinger, who was born probably in Maytown, Lancaster Co., PA to parents Johannes (John) George Hollinger (1778-1825) and Margaret McClure (b.c. 1783). Around 1830, Hariet married John Greiner (Kreiner) (c. 1804-1772). According to the 1850 U.S. Federal Census, the couple was living in East Donegal Township and had seven children. By the 1860 Census, the family was located in Mount Joy, and Hariet is listed as "Hetty".
Catharine Welshans Buchanan (1792-1852) taught needlework in Maytown, Wrightsville, and Marietta. She began instructing prior to her marriage to James Galbraith Buchanan (1784-1848) in 1814 and continued until at least 1831. In Girlhood Embroidery, Betty Ring commented, "Why Catharine taught school during the early years of marriage and motherhood remains unexplained. She never advertised, and possibly she taught only embroidery." The needleworks worked under her instruction have similarities to those made at the Harrisburg school of Leah Galligher Maguire (1764-1830), where Catharine may have possibly attended school.

Good to very good visual condition with gauze having toning and stains, some scattered holes including to the faces of the women and a sizable tear along proper left edge, thread with some light fading and typical fugitive color, some losses to thread mostly being small in nature, notably to flowers and leaves, and being more moderate in text, frame with minor wear. Not examined out of frame.