Raised Work Picture by Unknown Maker

Dateca. 1680

MediumCotton padding, metal-wrapped silk thread, silk embroidery thread, beads, paint, satin-weave silk ground for slips, linen canvas ground of 42 x 47 threads per inch

DimensionsFramed: OH 19" x OW 24" Actual (by sight): OH 13 1/2" x OW 18 1/2"

Credit LineAnonymous gift.

Object number1971-1641

DescriptionThis is a raised needlework picture worked on a linen ground fabric with polychrome silk threads and padded slips. The scene depicts a man and a woman standing in a verdant landscape. The woman wears a brown dress accented with lace at the cuffs and neckline over a blue petticoat. A blue shawl is draped over her (anatomical) right arm. She holds a flower in her (anatomical) left hand and offers it to the man. The man wears a brown coat accented with lace at the cuffs and brown breeches over stockings. He also wears a cape, a pair of shoes, a lace neck cloth, and garters. Their faces, necks, arms, and hands are stuffed and padded giving a three-dimensional quality to the piece. They stand in a grassy field, surrounded by a multitude of animals, insects, and plants. Two fruit trees frame the scene while a number of insects, including caterpillars and butterflies mingle with the tulips, carnations, roses, and other flowers that grow throughout the field. There are six, three-dimensional animals that occupy the field as well, including a black dog, a spotted leopard, a lion, a horse, a spotted stag, and a sheep. A house sits in the upper left hand corner of the scene. The sun emerges from a cloudy sky and several birds, including a green parrot, fly through the air.

The picture has been "matted" with black cloth and framed under glass in a wooden frame.

Stitches: applied objects, bullion knots, couching, crochet, detached buttonhole, queen, satin, split, straight, tent
Label TextThis picture portrays a proposal and was likely made to commemorate the maker's own engagement. This theme was popular with young embroiderers throughout the seventeenth century.
MarkingsA label glued to the back reads: "Bought by us at a sale in an old house/ on Bilton, Warwickshire, near Cawston/ where we were staying with my/cousin Lady John Scott Spottiswood/ in 1878, or 1879/ Nina H. Butler."
ProvenanceThis picture was initially bought by a woman named Nina H. Butler at an "old house" in Bilton, Warwickshire, England in 1878 or 1879. In 1971, the picture was donated to Colonial Williamsburg.