Based on a print published in 1781 by Joseph Strutt (1749 - 1802) after a painting by Robert Edge Pine (1730 - 1788) completed in 1778, this allegorical scene was intended to show America receiving the bounties of peace should the hostilities between England and America end. The caption to the original print read, " TO THOSE, who wish to SHEATHE the DESOLATING SWORD OF WAR. And, to RESTORE the BLESSINGS of PEACE and AMITY, to a divided PEOPLE. This PLATE is most respectfully ADDRESSED. R.E. Pine pinxt, 1778. Joseph Strutt sculp & Publish'd according to Act of Parliament, October the 6th. 1781. by R.E. Pine Albemarle Street LONDON." In addition, Pine, an American sympathizer, included with the original print an explanatory label on the reverse, "America ... [mourning the losses of war]... is represented in an Extacy of gratitude to the Almighty - HEROIC VIRTUE, presents LIBERTY, attended by CONCORD - INDUSTRY, followed by PLENTY and her TRAIN form a Group expressive of POPULATION & SHIPS, denote the happy return of peaceful COMMERCE." This print was originally published as a sepia toned stipple engraving, thus the duochromatic color choice of this stipple-stitched and knotted needlework illustrated here is particularly faithful to the original print source on which it is based. An example of this print is in the collection of the Winterthur Museum (accession number 61.499 a-d); for further information, see E. McSherry Fowble, Two Centuries of Prints in America, 1660 - 1880: A Selective Catalogue of the Winterthur Museum Collection (Charlottesville, 1987) fig. 137, p. 213.