Needlework Picture of a Family Group by Alice Center

Date1805-1820 (ca 1812?)

Artist/Maker Alice Center (1797-1865/1866)

MediumSilk embroidery thread, paint, and mica on silk ground in a gilded wooden frame with eglomise glass mat

DimensionsOverall (Unframed H x W): 21 1/2 x 19 3/4in. (54.6 x 50.2cm) Overall (Framed H x W): 28 3/4 x 26 1/2in. (73 x 67.3cm)

Credit LineGift of the John D. Rockefeller, 3rd, Fund, Inc., through the generosity and interest of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, 3rd, and members of the family

Object number1979.601.3

DescriptionThe painted and embroidered domestic scene shows a seated mother surrounded by three children in a domestic interior. The mother is wearing a gold gown (embroidered) with the stitch direction implying the folds of the fabric. She is also wearing a hat with a pink feather tied under her chin in pink ribbon. The hat, her skin and her hair are all painted. She is seated in a white fancy chair painted with blue flowers. She is holding what appears to be a knitting needle and using it to point to a book (painted) held open to her by a young girl. The young girl, wearing a gold dress (embroidered in vertical satin stitches) looks up at the mother and points at the alphabet written in the book. A young boy, wearing a blue jacket with two rows of gold buttons and a wide, white ruffled collar peers over the mother’s shoulder at the book, while holding another book in his hand. To the left of the grouping sits another young girl, again wearing a gold dress. She is shown seated and stitching fabric attached to the clothing of a doll lying across her lap. A small lap dog sits on the floor in front of the group looking up at the last figure. The clothing of all the figures is stitched, while all other details are painted.

The group is shown in a domestic interior. In the upper corners are draperies worked in gold and green threads. Both sets have stitched fringe. The curtain on the left is extremely full and held back into a swag revealing a wood grain painted book case. Only a single book on the shelf is labeled: it reads “Holy Bible” on the spine and “AC” (the initials of the maker, Alice Center) on the front. The right curtain has a single swag valance over a window. The window muntins are formed by stretching several grouped threads over a solid, clear material (probably mica). The sash window is shown open to reveal a painted scene outside, consisting of trees and a single structure.

Between the embroidered curtains, the wall is covered in wallpaper in a design of Venetian curtains, which are painted green and edged in white painted lace. Beneath them, the light blue wall is revealed, as is a wood grained baseboard. A wood grained Pembroke table with a locking drawer and square, tapered legs sits beneath the window. Both leaves are dropped. An open book is propped on the table. All the previous elements are painted rather than embroidered. Beneath the table sits a basket holding gold fabric, which is embroidered. The rug is entirely stitched. It features a dark border with light roses. The rest of the rug has a gold ground with two patterns of medallions: dark with a gold circle, and light with flowers.

The needlework picture is in a gilded and molded wooden frame with an eglomise glass mat that is inscribed in gold: "Wrought by Alice Center."

STITCHES: Satin
Label TextAlice Center probably completed this embroidered and painted scene while attending a school for fashionable young ladies in the Boston area. She combined closely worked embroidery in the draperies, clothing, and floral-patterned carpet with almost equal areas of painted details-- wallpaper with lace-edged swags above a chair rail, dado, and baseboard, a secretary with bookcase, an intricately decorated "fancy" chair, a Pembroke table, and even a small landscape viewed through the open window. A professional artist or Alice's teacher may have supplied these painted details as well as the facial expressions, the seated spaniel, and the child's alphabet primer. Alice emphasized the window by using transparent panels, probably of mica, to reflect light like glass panes.
MarkingsA book in the secretary at left is titled "Holy Bible," and its cover has the initials "A.C." The open book held by the center child reveals letters of the alphabet.
ProvenanceMade by Alice Center, 1800-1820.
Obtained by Bessie J. Howard, Boston, MA;
Sold to Abby Aldrich Rockefeller for use in Bassett Hall, September, 1939;
Given to CWF, 1979.

MAKER HISTORY: A daughter of Cotton and Margaret Taylor Center, Alice was baptized in the First Church of Charlestown, Massachusetts, on March 26, 1797. Her older sister Hannah died in 1837 leaving eight children. Alice married the widower, Marshall Johnson, in Boston in 1837. Johnson operated a West India-goods store and a tavern in Charlestown. Marshall brought two sons and daughter from a previous marriage, Edwin Johnson (born c. 1824), Josiah (born c. 1820), and Henrietta (born c. 1834). Only one child from Marshall and Alice appears on the census: Cotton Center Johnson (born c. 1837). Throughout their marriage, Marshall is listed as having various occupations, including yeoman, trader, gentleman, merchant, and “none.” By 1860, all the children had moved away and Alice and Marshall are shown as the only residents. Though Alice is still present for the 1865 Massachusetts State Census (taken May 10, 1865), she apparently died before Marshall died of pneumonia on March 17, 1866, as he is listed as a widower.