A SILK EMBROIDERED NEEDLEWORK PICTURE
PROPERTY OF A DESCENDANT OF THE MAKER
A SILK EMBROIDERED NEEDLEWORK PICTURE

WORKED BY ELIZABETH MOTTER, ST. JOSEPH'S ACADEMY, EMMITSBURG, MARYLAND, DATED 1825

Details
A SILK EMBROIDERED NEEDLEWORK PICTURE
Worked by Elizabeth Motter, St. Joseph's Academy, Emmitsburg, Maryland, dated 1825
Depicting the Academy building in gold thread with the front door open and a horse and carriage approaching, with rolling hills and fields in the foreground and background and a blue sky with a single white cloud, monogrammed lower left EM, retains its original giltwood frame and original glass inscribed "View of Saint Joseph's Near Emmitsburgh E. Motter 1825"
17x23¼in.
Provenance
A paper label affixed to the back reads The property of Mrs. O.A. Horner, Emmitsburg, Maryland, June 11, 1909
Descended from Elizabeth Motter Annan (1810-1864) to
O. Annan Horner
Elizabeth Horner (d. circa 1972)
Father of the current owner (cousin of the above)

Lot Essay

Of the dozen or so distinctive needlework pictures from the Saint Joseph's Academy near Emmitsburg, Maryland, that are currently known, the present example is among the very finest. Two other examples are likely by young girls who were related to Elizabeth Motter, as a very similar example signed "A.M. Motter" and another signed "A. E. Motter" are known.

Elizabeth Motter was born in 1810, and thus worked this remarkable picture at age 15. In 1830 she married Dr. Andrew Motter (1809-1896). She died in 1864. Elizabeth's carefully detailed rendering of the rolling countryside of Maryland and the surrounding buildings and distant village of Emmitsburg affords a rare glimpse of rural Maryland in the early 19th century. For more on the Saint Joseph's Academy needlework pictures, see Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery (New York, 1993), pp. 516-521, and Rumford, ed., American Folk Paintings From the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center (Colonial Williamsburg, 1988), cat. no. 34.

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