Description:
Embroidered picture of a house set within a landscape. The house is depicted with a hipped roof and white clapboards in a five-bay construction. The use of different silk embroidery threads and a variety of stitches creates the landscape that includes lawn, a pathway, trees, a flock of sheep, a fence, and a pond with a duck. The sky looks to be created through the use of blue paint or gouache. The picture's glazing has a black border on all four sides, highlighted with gilding. The name "POLLY WHITE" appears at the bottom center of this border. The frame appears to be original; a label on the back announces "BURR AND SMITH;/ LOOKING GLASS/ MANUFACTURERS,/ OVER THE BANK,/ Pittsfield, Massachusetts./ Embroidery and Pictures/ FRAMED/ Glass-Signs Lettered./ Old Looking Glasses/ REPAIRED,/ Warranted Copal Varnish." An additional, hand-written label on the back (and probably later than the piece) contains the name "Mrs. H.J. Dunham"[Duichart?]. Polly White (1782-1846) was likely born on November 20, 1782, the daughter of Ebenezer White and Abigail White of Pittsfield. No information is known thus far about White's schooling, or what academy(ies) she may have attended. White died, unmarried. on October 30, 1846, at the age of 64. The embroidery is an important survival of a Pittsfield schoolgirl's artistic accomplishment, wrought at an as-yet identified school.
Label Text:
Band or marking samplers taught girls basic embroidery skills from an early age. Later, more ambitious ornamental accomplishments became artistic in nature, teaching principles of composition and arrangement. Polly White’s picture was likely done at an academy in or near Pittsfield, where she resided. In addition to her use of watercolor, White employed a variety of stitches to suggest different textures and a hint of realism to the outdoor scene.
Tags:
houses; landscapes; sheep Subjects:
Architecture, Domestic; Landscapes; Textile fabrics; Embroidery; polychrome; Silk; Watercolor painting Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2020.31 |
