The Reaper and the Milkmaid, (sculpture).

The Reaper and the Milkmaid, (sculpture).

Skillin, John, 1746-1800, sculptor. (copy after)

Skillin, Simeon, Jr., 1756/57-1806, sculptor. (copy after)

McIntire, Samuel, 1757-1811, sculptor.

Avarista, Joseph, carver.

John Evans & Company, carver.

The Reaper and the Milkmaid, (sculpture).

Original figures carved 1793. Teahouse carved 1793. Milkmaid recarved ca. 1924. Reaper recarved 1982.

Digital Reference:

Each figure approx. H. 6 ft.; Teahouse: approx. 5 x 20 x 20 ft.

Atop a carved wooden teahouse stand an eighteenth century milkmaid carrying a bucket and a reaper honing his scythe.

Occupation -- Farm -- Dairy

Occupation -- Farm -- Farmer

Architecture -- Other -- Gazebo

Outdoor Sculpture -- Massachusetts -- Danvers

Administered by Danvers Historical Society, 9-11 Page Street, Danvers, Massachusetts 01923

Located Glen Magna Estates, Ingersoll Street, Danvers, Massachusetts

The teahouse, designed and carved in 1793 by Samuel McIntire, was originally topped by figures of a milkmaid and a reaper carved by John Skillin and Simeon Skillin, Jr. in 1793. The teahouse and figures were commissioned by Elias Hasket Derby and were originally located at the Derby Farm on Andover Street in South Danvers (now known as Peabody).

In 1901, Mrs. William Crowinshield Endicott, Sr., purchased the teahouse and moved it to Glen Magna Farms in Danvers, but at that time only the reaper remained on the roof of the teahouse. The milkmaid had been purchased earlier by the Sutton family of North Andover and had been installed on one of their mills in Andover. There the milkmaid's bucket had been replaced with a spindle. Twenty years later the milkmaid was discovered, though it had been severely damaged by a fire that destroyed the Sutton mill. The Sutton family gave the charred figure to Mrs. Endicott and in 1924, a duplicate milkmaid carved by John Evans and Sons was installed on the teahouse roof. Mrs. William Crowinshield Endicott, Jr., gave the teahouse and figures to the Danvers Historical Society in 1958.

In 1982, a duplicate reaper carved by Joseph Avarista was installed on the teahouse roof after the original reaper was damaged in a fall during a 1981 storm. In Jan. 1993, the reaper was restored by the Buffalo State College conservation labs and was returned to Glen Magna. The original milkmaid figure is now in the collection of the Essex Institute in Salem. IAS image files contain a photo of the milkmaid atop the teahouse, and photo of Joseph Avarista carving the duplicate reaper from the original, but no photo of the teahouse.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1994.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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