Needwork Picture, "Catherine Fairfax with Chole at Mounteagle," by Ann Culpepper Fairfax

DateCa. 1805

Maker Ann Culpepper Fairfax (attributed)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Alexandria (attributed)

MediumAppliquéd wool, cotton and linen fabrics, wool embroidery thread, and beads on a wool ground (fiber identification by eye)

Dimensions15" x 12" (approx.)

Credit LinePurchased with partial gift funds from "Jeannine's Sampler Seminar"

Object number2003-46

DescriptionThis is a needlework picture embroidered in wool threads with appliquéd linen, cotton, and wool fabrics, and beads on a wool ground. The scene depicts the figures of an African-American woman (Chole?) and a white woman (Catherine Fairfax?) who is pointing to an unseen object. The clothing and accessories of each figure are rendered with great attention to folds, drapery, and texture. The African-American figure wears a striped petticoat, apron, striped jacket, head wrap, necklace, and earrings. The white woman wears a petticoat, laced jacket, neckerchief, head wrap, blue bracelets, blue necklace, and blue earrings. She holds in her right hand a red object, possibly a cloak. A tree is behind the figures on the left side and small bushes and grasses are in the background. The figures stand on what appears to be a path or cleared area.
Label TextThis rare and unusual wool needlework picture is an important southern piece. The inscription on a later mat on the picture, "Catherine Fairfax with Chloe at Monteagle, Va./ Ann Culpepper Fairfax, 1805" associates the picture with the powerful and influential Fairfax family, proprietors of an enormous tract of land known as the Northern Neck of Virginia.
The scene depicts the figures of an African-American woman (Chloe ?) and a white woman (Catherine Fairfax ?) who is pointing to an unseen object. Figures of African-Americans on American needlework are rare, especially at the early date of 1805. The figures are so realistically portrayed that they appear almost as portraits. The clothing and accessories of each figure are rendered with great attention to folds, drapery, and texture.
The clothing and stance of the African-American figure bears a striking resemblance to a figure in the line engraving, "A Negroes Dance in the Island of Dominica" by A. Brunias after drawings made during his visit to the West Indies ca. 1773 and published as engravings between 1770 and 1810. The view itself may have been inspired by the story of Moses and the Bulrushes, which was a popular subject with New England schoolgirls in the first decade of the 19th century. These pictures, however, were usually worked in silk embroidery threads and watercolor on a silk ground or painted in watercolor on a wove paper ground. In stark contrast, this needlework picture is worked in the unusual combination of appliquéd wool and linen fabrics, wool embroidery threads, and beads on a wool ground.

InscribedThe inscription on a later mat on the picture reads: "Catherine Fairfax with Chloe at Monteagle, Va./ Ann Culpepper Fairfax, 1805"
ProvenanceThe picture is attributed to Ann (Nancy) Culpepper Fairfax (b. ca. 1783, still living in 1840). Ann was the daughter of Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord, and Jane Donaldson, his second wife. Sometime before 1809, Ann married Charles Jefferson Catlett of King George Co., VA. (COLONIAL FAMILIES OF US, ed. by George Norbury Mackenzie.)

Per Dean Levy: "Although it is not known exactly how the needlework picture came into the family, it has always been assumed that it was owned by George Harrison Byrd of Richmond, Virginia, in the mid nineteenth century. Byrd left Richmond and went to New York either just before or after the Civil War. It is possible that the needlework came from his wife's family, the Wickhams, or from his parents, but this is not known. The picture was inherited by George Harrison Byrd's daughter, Lucy Carter Byrd Eliot, who bequeathed it to her daughter, Lucy Carter Eliot." The picture was consigned to Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc.