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Sampler 1962-112
Raised Work Picture, Harmony and the Four Continents, by Unknown Maker
Sampler 1962-112

Raised Work Picture, Harmony and the Four Continents, by Unknown Maker

Date1650-1675
OriginEngland
MediumSilk and metallic thread, coiled wire, metal purl, silk satin ground fabric, glass beads
DimensionsOH: 13 1/2" x OW: 17 1/2"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1962-112
DescriptionThis is a needlework picture depicting "Harmony and the Four Continents". The central figure of Harmony is represented by a woman playing a lute beneath an arbor. On a latticed panel behind her a parrot perches, while the arbor above is covered with large flowers, leaves, and vines. In each of the four corners of the picture there is a figure representing a continent. In the upper left is Africa, a man wearing draped fabric which reveals his torso. He holds a sprig of balsam and sits beside a globe beneath trees where a cockatrice and a squirrel perch. The globe has a sash across it that features numbers 1 through 8. On the upper right is a figure representing America. The figure is presumably a Native American, and he holds a bow and arrow and rests beneath a fig tree. To the left of the figure is an animal whose identity is unclear (perhaps it is a lion, bear, or griffin). The figure wears a feather headdress and skirt, and has a bare torso. In the lower left corner is a crowned woman representing Europe who is seated and holds in her left hand a scepter and in her right hand a book inscribed BIBLA SACRA (Holy Bible). She is accompanied by a horse. On the lower right is a seated woman wearing a cap and veil, representing Asia. She holds in her right hand a censer, an incense pot from which clouds of smoke issue. She is accompanied by a camel. In the center, at the top of the picture, is the sun with a face. At the bottom is a small fountain. Between the principal figures and their accompanying animals are a peacock, butterflies, a rabbit, a rooster, chickens, insects, roses, a thistle, carnations, and other unidentified flowers. The work features flat and raised work embroidery worked in red, blue, green, yellow, white, brown, and metal purl in couching, purlwork, buttonhole (needlepoint lace), satin, and tent stitch on a white satin ground. On the left side there is a vertical blue-green strip, presumably a selvedge.

Stitches: buttonhole, couching, detached buttonhole, overtwisting, purlwork, satin, tent, tufting
Label TextThis schoolgirl needlework picture depicts the female personification of Harmony in the center, surrounded by personifications of Africa, America, Europe, and Asia. These figures are three-dimensional, padded out with cotton to create raised work embroidery. Africa sits near a globe while holding a sprig of balsam, America holds a bow and arrow, Europe holds a Bible (with a stitched inscription that reads, "BIBLA SACRA") while wearing a crown and holding a scepter, and Asia swings a censer. Depictions of the four continents, which was a very popular needlework theme in the seventeenth century, illustrates how people in Early Modern Britain viewed the world and the people who lived in each corner of it.
ProvenanceEx coll: Mildred Alice Carr, Weston, Bath, England.