Needlework Picture by Unknown Maker

DateEarly 18th century

MediumWool embroidery thread on a linen canvas (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsFramed: OH 36 5/8" x OW 31 5/8" Actual: OH 29 1/2" x OW 24 1/4"

Credit LineGift of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object number1939-284

DescriptionThis is a rectangular needlework picture worked in shades of red, gold, green, blue, brown, beige, black, and white wool embroidery threads on a fine linen ground. In the foreground are four figures, three women and one man, who stroll through an abundant landscape. To the left is an elderly woman who carries a walking stick and is supported by a young woman in a brown/beige gown. In the center is a young woman in a blue gown holding a pink flower; to her left is a young man wearing a red coat picking pears from a pear tree. A barge with a fantastical animal figurehead floats along the river in the midground. A young woman wearing a gold gown sits in the prow of the barge; she is accompanied by a man dressed in blue who holds a parasol bedecked with feathers and leaves to shade her. A servant wearing a doublet and hose poles the craft toward a bluff where a gentleman appears to be waiting. In addition to the main waiting on the bluff, the background contains a red brick structure topped with a weathervane. The sky is colored with varied shades of blue; the overall effect of the coloring indicates that this is a nighttime scene.
The frame is period but not original; this piece was reframed by the Old Print Shop in 1964.

Stitches: tent
Label TextAlthough the subject of this needlework picture has not yet been identified, it is possible that this scene depicts a royal barge. Many pictures depicting the Queen of Sheba contain similar motifs, most notably the parasol.
ProvenancePrior to 1939, at which time it was given to Colonial Williamsburg, the picture, among other things, had been on loan by Mrs. Rockefeller. See correspondence in object folder; no other history included.