WROUGHT BY HETTY SMITH, MASSACHUSETTS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A SILK EMBROIDERED NEEDLEWORK PICTURE
WROUGHT BY HETTY SMITH, MASSACHUSETTS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Depicting a lady in a pastoral scene by a river, the glazed frame inscribed Hetty Smith on the top edge and Sterns Maria on the lower edge
11½in. square

Lot Essay

The inscription 'Sterns Maria' probably refers to the Maria character in Laurence Sterne's (1713-1768) 1768 novel entitled A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Encountered in chapters 64, 65 and 66, Maria was a girl who had "lost her senses" and was preoccupied with wandering the countryside and crying into her handkerchief.

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