Description:
Pictorial needlework titled "The Apiary" made using watercolor paints and silk embroidery worked on a silk ground fabric, which depicts a young woman standing next to an apiary or beehive in an idealized pastoral setting. There are two inscriptions on the back: "BETSY KNOX . DEERFIELD / AUGUST 20th AB. 1804." printed on the inner back shingle, and "Betsy Knox ae 13 / Deerfield Academy / AD 1804 / The Apiary / Blandford/ Mass," painted in black on the original backboard. The information on the backboard may be original instructions to the framer for inclusion on the reverse painted black mat on the front bordering the picture. Enrollment archives confirm that Betsy Knox (b.1791) was a student at Deerfield Academy for a semester (probably 9-12 weeks) in the late summer of 1804, probably under the tutelage of Sarah (Sally) Chester Williams (1778-1845), who taught at the Academy between 1803 and 1805. The background wash appears to have been done prior to the embroidery. It is likely that the composition, including the figure's face and the tree's stencilled leaves, was drawn out by the instructor or an experienced student; Knox herself would have done the embroidery. Images like this example were one popular subject for schoolgirl embroideries. The particular association with bees and beekeeping suggests virtuous labor as a positive moral attribute. Small pictorial needlework pictures like this were one kind of output at Deerfield Academy, taught by one or more instructors, during the first decade of the 19th century. Historic Deerfield has two other pictorial needlework examples (both are larger mourning pictures ) wrought by girls attending Deerfield Academy: one by Jane Pigeon in 1807-1808 (HD 90.103), and another by Mary Upham, ca 1807 (HD 69.0470). A third pictorial needlework example wrought by Sarah Hooker Leavitt in 1810 (pole screen, HD 2007.19) was worked at either the Misses Pattens' school in Hartford, Connecticut, or else at Deerfield Academy under the tutelage of Jerusha Mather Williams, herself a former student from the Pattens' school.
Label Text:
Pictorial needlework, composed of silk embroidery and watercolors, was a popular form of schoolgirl art in early 19th-century New England. Betsy Knox embroidered this example while attending Deerfield Academy during the fall 1804 term. The overall composition was drawn out by Knox’s instructor, who may in fact be Sarah (Sally) Chester Williams (1778-1845), who taught at the Academy between 1803 and 1805. The background wash appears to have been done prior to the embroidery, suggesting an order of production for these orchestrated pieces.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2013.28 |
