Needlework Picture of Kneeling Enslaved African by Unknown Maker

Date1825-35

MediumWool and silk embroidery threads on a bast fiber ground of 14 threads per inch with cotton tape; pine strainer (fiber identification by textile lab)

DimensionsUnframed: 19 1/2" X 18 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1990-222

DescriptionThis is a needlework picture consisting of a prominently centered African man, chained hand and foot and kneeling with raised arms. The figure of the enslaved man wears a white cloth around his middle. The figure is set on a plain background of tan threads with three lines of verse worked in darker tan embroidery threads both above and below the figure. A 2 1/2-inch wide floral border of red, pink, and yellow blooms with olive-green foliage, all worked in cross stitch, frames the image. An outer and inner border of yellow chains is found on either side of the wide floral border.

Stitches: cross, straight, tent

Label TextAlthough women could not be elected to public office at the time this needlework picture was created, they could demonstrate their anti-slavery views in their embroidery. This captivating needlework picture features the image of a kneeling enslaved African man. The image was originally taken from Josiah Wedgwood's "Slave Emancipation Society Seal," which was modeled by Hackwood in 1787. It was the source for numerous abolitionist broadsides and printed images--one of which likely served as the inspiration for this embroidered picture. The inscription is from the first verse of a poem/song titled, "Desponding Negro" written by John Collins and printed in London in 1792.
Inscribed"On africs wide Plains where the/ Lion now roaring with freedom/ Stalks forth the vast desert by./ [Im]Ploring i as dragged from my hut,/ And enchained [sic] as a slave in a dark/ Floating dungeon up on the salt waves."
MarkingsNo marks
ProvenanceDealer from whom the needlework picture was purchased reported that he had purchased piece from a Pennsylvania dealer, who had acquired it "from a family that had had it for a number of years."