Needlework Picture, Happiness, by Unknown Maker

Date1800-1825

MediumSilk embroidery threads and watercolor on silk; linen backing (fiber identification by eye)

Dimensions6"X 8 3/4" FRAMED:8 7/8"X10 7/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1991-123,A

DescriptionThis is an embroidered and painted picture in which two young girls in high-waisted, puff-sleeved, scooped-necklined dresses are standing in a field with a large wooden cage between them, and a watercolor bird flying in the sky above them. The girl on the right has just released the bird. The bird, sky, girls' hair, faces and arms, and the barest outlines of a village in the mid-distance center are done in watercolor. The rest is worked in fine silk stitches. A large group of flowers in golds and blues is to the left and a big tree and two small trees with leaves of tiny French knots is to the right. The girl on the left has brown hair and the one on the right wears what appears to be a straw sun bonnet.
Lettered in gold on the black glass mat is the word, "HAPPINESS."
Label TextThis embroidered and painted picture is probably based on an English print entitled, "Unlucky Girls" by Mantaunam, London published September 6, 1798, which shows three girls letting a bird out of a cage. This diminutive example of fine schoolgirl needlework was skillfully executed with special attention to different uses of colored threads and stitches in the area of the trees. The unidentified artist wisely painted the freed bird in the sky, the fading watercolors adding to the feeling of the bird's height and distance, a silk bird would have appeared too heavy.
InscribedLettered in gold on the black glass mat is the word, "HAPPINESS."
ProvenanceEx. collection Halliday-Thomas (HT 232)
Formerly accessioned as 1958.601.1 in the AARFAM collection