Images(2)

Needlework Miniature with Case

Date1625-1650

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a silk satin ground with silk velvet lining, leather case, and brass hardware (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsCase: H: 3 3/8"; W: 2 5/8". Miniature: H: 3"; W: 2 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1951-464

DescriptionThis is an oval miniature portrait embroidered in silk on a silk satin ground. The image consists of a man turned one-quarter right with brown hair, pointed beard, and white lace collar on brown costume in style of the second quarter of the seventeenth century. The figure wears a gold pendant on a light blue ribbon and is set against a light green background. The stitched miniature portrait is mounted in a black leather case with hinged lid; the case is lined with red velvet.
Stitches: couching, satin, single, split.
Label TextStitched miniature portraits were often the work of professional embroiderers--their stitches executed in much the same way as an artist's paint strokes with a fine brush. A number of these portraits have survived, but most of them depict Charles I. The sitter in this miniature resembles Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford (1593-1641), as painted by Van Dyck in about 1633. Wentworth was a tragic figure who, because of his enforcement of Charles I's policies, antagonized various powerful landowners and officials. He was incarcerated in the Tower of London and subsequently executed on May 12, 1641. During Cromwell's rule, no doubt, royalist sympathizers regarded Wentworth as an early martyr to their cause.
ProvenanceThe miniature portrait was purchased from a Connecticut antiques dealer in 1951. No further provenance is known.