A SILK-ON-SILK NEEDLEWORK PICTURE

DESCENDED IN THE FAMILY OF THE ORIGINAL OWNER

Details

A SILK-ON-SILK NEEDLEWORK PICTURE
POSSIBLY WROUGHT BY LOUIS GLADDING, NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, CIRCA 1815

Worked in brown, beige, green, blue, yellow and red threads in a variety of stitches depicting a river scene with cows grazing in the foreground, a sailboat in the middle ground, and red, yellow and blue-painted buildings in the background, all enclosed by a meandering floral vine--18 x 20½in.

Further details

VARIOUS PROPERTIES

Lot Essay

Founded in 1784, but not opened to pupils until 1791, the Derby Academy educated both young men and women in Hingham, Massachusetts. One of the first schools in Federal America to teach silk on silk needlework to women, several Derby Academy needleworks feature a river scene with fantastical buildings, though none of them include the meandering floral border (see Ring, Girlhood Embroidery (New York, 1993), pp. 152 - 158, fig. 171.)