Needlework Picture, "The Lass of Livingstone," by Unknown Maker

Dateca. 1800

MediumWool and silk threads on a silk ground, linen, watercolor, glass, wood, paint (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsFramed: OW: 17" x OH: 15"

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1936.601.2

DescriptionThis is a framed embroidered silk and painted picture of "The Lass of Livingstone." The picture depicts a woman sitting on a mound while a man sneaks up behind her. The woman wears a blue dress with a white neckercheif, white cap, white apron, and red waist sash. She sits on a mound of earth and rests her head in her left hand, gazing at the ground. She is surrounded by trees. Behind the mound on which she sits is a man who sneaks up to her. He wears a hat with a plume, a gold tunic, and a checked blue, white, and yello sash. Next to her is her abandoned hat.

The figures' faces, necks, and hands are rendered in watercolor. Their costumes are made of silk threads and the background is made of wool threads.

Stitches: detached chain, satin
Label TextThis needlework picture depicts "The Lass of Livingstone," a British print from 1785. In the late eighteenth through early nineteenth centuries, needlework projects were often copied from popular print sources.
ProvenanceKatrina Kipper, Accord, Mass.
Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.