A seedwork relief picture

Details

A seedwork relief picture
depicting Darby and Joan, sitting outside a cottage, wearing a tricorn hat and bonnet respectively, each with a walking stick, the old man holding a tankard, the woman a pipe, in its original glazed shadow box with ebonised moulded frame and gilt slip, late 18th century -- 5½in. x 7in. (14 x 17.8cm), overall

Literature

James Ayres, British Folk Art, Barrie and Jenkins, London 1976. Overlook Press, Woodstock, N.Y. 1977. P.90.
James Ayres, English Naive Painting 1750-1900, Thames and Hudson, London and N.Y. 1981. Pl.138.

Lot Essay

Darby and Joan were in fact a real life couple immortalised in a ballad by Henry Woodfall, which was published in "The Gentleman's Magazine" in 1735. John Darby of Bartholomew Close died in 1730; Joan was his wife; Henry Woodfall was John Darby's apprentice.

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