Needlework Picture, Esther and King Ahasureus, by Unknown Maker

Date1640-1660

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 35 x 44 threads per inch (fiber identification by Textile Lab); in a gilded wooden frame under glass with a wooden backboard

DimensionsActual: OH 11" x OW 15 1/2" Framed: OH 16" x OW 20 3/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1962-109

DescriptionThis is a rectangular needlework picture worked in shades of blue, red, yellow, green, brown, and white silk embroidery threads on a linen ground. At the center of the scene is a figure of a man, wearing crown, blue tunic, brown breeches, and an ermine robe, enthroned on a raised dais beneath a canopy. With his scepter he touches the arm of a crowned woman who approaches him. The crowned woman wears a faded brown tunic with blue lining over a brown petticoat. The crowned woman's train is carried by a woman in more simple attire. At the left of the picture stands a man clad in long flowing robes with an ermine collar and holding a crook. In the extreme upper right corner beyond a group of dwellings is a gallows from which a man hangs. Other worked motifs include the sun, a fig tree, a rose, lilies, a parrot perched on a branch of a cherry tree, a snail, a frog, a butterfly, a fish swimming in a small pond, with coral branch surround; and other birds and flowers.
The frame is probably not original.

Stitches: couching and tent
Label TextBiblical stories, especially those from the Old Testament, were popular subjects for mid-seventeenth century needlework projects. The scene represented here is from the book of Esther and shows King Ahasuerus, Esther, Esther's maidservant, Mordecai, and Haman upon the gallows.
ProvenanceEx. coll: Mildred Alice Carr, Weston, Bath, England.