Lettercase
maker
Margaret Osgood
(Boston, 1847 - 1941)
Dateabout 1903
Place MadeBoston, Massachusetts, United States, North America
MediumEmbroidered silk satin
Dimensions43.2 x 30.5 cm (17 x 12 in.)
ClassificationsTextile Arts
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberT25n16
eMuseum ID724200
Alt. No. 2 (Cavallo)216A
EmbARK ObjectID13768
Alt. No. 2 (Cavallo)178
Alt. No. 1 (Siple)010
TMS Source ID2631
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryThis lettercase, created from a Qing dynasty Chinese dragon robe, was made for Isabella by her friend Gretchen Osgood Warren and her female relatives, including her young daughters Rachel and Marjorie. Gretchen writes about the gift in a letter.
Friday [about 1903]
Dearest Mrs. Gardner:
Here at last is the long promised present! I hope you will like it, we are all so excited over it and many many evenings have seen us consulting over it, and planning how it should go! It was made by Mama, out of an old Chinese coat, she doesn’t wish it rumored that she did all the work, for she is always like that, but she has done it all except a few stitches by Molly, myself, Rachel11 & Miss Marjorie who with great diligence pulled the needle twice through—if you could have seen her fat hands you would have eaten her! We have pinned a large bow of her hair ribbon over her handiwork. But the chief of it all is this. You can’t imagine how much loving thought has gone into it, for months we have spoken of “Mrs. Gardner’s portfolio,” until it has grown to such a part of the family that we shall really miss it! It always seemed a little bit as if you were near, and we spoke of you so lovingly. You know you are just in the midst of us all, where we keep you warm & safe, and can pet & take care of you. This little gift is just to remind you of that, and every single one of us lends you the most tender love, & we beg you to use it.
Goodbye dear & a great hug & many kisses from us all.
Margaret Osgood
Gretchen
Molly
Rachel
Marjorie Warren
(Written with her own fat fingers guided by mother)
[a drawing of a circle]
(A kiss here)
Isabella displayed many personal objects in her museum and placed this one on the desk in the Veronese Room gallery.
Friday [about 1903]
Dearest Mrs. Gardner:
Here at last is the long promised present! I hope you will like it, we are all so excited over it and many many evenings have seen us consulting over it, and planning how it should go! It was made by Mama, out of an old Chinese coat, she doesn’t wish it rumored that she did all the work, for she is always like that, but she has done it all except a few stitches by Molly, myself, Rachel11 & Miss Marjorie who with great diligence pulled the needle twice through—if you could have seen her fat hands you would have eaten her! We have pinned a large bow of her hair ribbon over her handiwork. But the chief of it all is this. You can’t imagine how much loving thought has gone into it, for months we have spoken of “Mrs. Gardner’s portfolio,” until it has grown to such a part of the family that we shall really miss it! It always seemed a little bit as if you were near, and we spoke of you so lovingly. You know you are just in the midst of us all, where we keep you warm & safe, and can pet & take care of you. This little gift is just to remind you of that, and every single one of us lends you the most tender love, & we beg you to use it.
Goodbye dear & a great hug & many kisses from us all.
Margaret Osgood
Gretchen
Molly
Rachel
Marjorie Warren
(Written with her own fat fingers guided by mother)
[a drawing of a circle]
(A kiss here)
Isabella displayed many personal objects in her museum and placed this one on the desk in the Veronese Room gallery.
BibliographyNotesAdolph S. Cavallo. Textiles: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1986), p. 196, no. 178, ill. (textile as Chinese, dated about 1800-1900; erroneously as museum no. F25n14)
Christina Nielsen (ed.). Sargent on Location: Gardner's First Artist-in-Residence. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2018), pp. 33, 59 no. 13.
Christina Nielsen (ed.). Sargent on Location: Gardner's First Artist-in-Residence. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2018), pp. 33, 59 no. 13.
ProvenanceNotesGift from the actress, singer and poet Mrs. Fiske Warren (Gretchen Osgood, 1871-1961), her mother, the writer Margaret Osgood (1847-1941), her sister, writer and Irish nationalist Mary Alden “Molly” Osgood Childers (1875–1964), and her daughters Rachel and Marjorie Warren to Isabella Stewart Gardner in about 1903.
Object/Provenance
