Needlework Picture, "Moses in the Bullrushes" by Unknown Maker

Dateca. 1805

MediumWatercolor and sequins with embroidery in silk, silk chenille, and metallic threads on a silk satin-weave ground in a gilded frame with a reverse painted glass mat

DimensionsFramed: OH 23" x OW 21 7/8" Actual (by sight): 17" x 15 6/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958.601.2

DescriptionThis is a rectangular needlework picture worked in shades of blue, green, yellow, and beige silk embroidery threads on a cream-colored silk ground. The center consists of an oval vignette of a woman standing with a parasol held over her head; she is accompanied by a girl or woman who stands behind her. A small girl peeks out from behind the latter, and at right in the oval, a woman kneels to raise a baby from a basket supported by foliage. Parts of trees are visible to the right and left in the oval, with low bushes also at left. At top above the oval is a spread eagle worked in silver metallic threads; in his beak he holds aloft a floral swag worked in silk threads. At either end of the floral swag, i.e., in upper right and left corners of the composition, bow knots worked with silk threads, then covered with sequins, support the swag. Curving upward in a U-shape beneath the pictorial oval are stems of wheat and flowers mixed; the ears of the wheat are worked in metallic threads, the flowers in silk.
The picture is framed in a gilded frame with a reverse painted glass mat. Lettered in gold paint on the eglomise mat is "MOSES IN THE BULLRUSHES."

Stitches: couched, French knots, laid, satin shading, straight
Label TextSeveral elements link this embroidered picture to others thought to have been worked at the Misses Patten's School in Hartford, Connecticut, about the same time: the hovering raised-work eagle executed in metallic threads at center top, the floral swag he appears to hold in his beak, and the U-shaped border of flowers and wheat stalks below the oval. Biblical episodes were favored needlework subjects, since they provided the opportunity for imparting valuable lessons in stitchery and religious history simultaneously. Pharaoh’s daughter's discovery of the infant Moses afloat in the Nile River is recounted in Exodus 2:1-10.
MarkingsLettered in gold paint on the eglomise mat is "MOSES IN THE BULLRUSHES."
ProvenanceJ. Stuart Halladay and Herrel George Thomas, Sheffield, Mass. Halladay died in 1951, leaving his interest in their jointly-owned collection to his partner, Thomas. Thomas died in 1957, leaving his estate to his sister, Mrs. Albert N. Petterson, who was AARFAM's vendor.