Object Number 1959.1873 A

Object Name

Needlework picture (Canvaswork picture)

Title

Fishing Lady

Category

Textiles (Needlework)

Credit Line/Donor

Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont

Place of Origin

Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, New England, United States, North America

Date

1740-1760

Materials

Silk; Metallic thread; Wool; Canvas

Techniques

Embroidered, Woven (plain), Canvaswork

Construction Description

Hand-embroidered

Dimensions (inches)

21 (L) , 42 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

53.34 (L) , 106.68 (W)

Measurement Notes

The measurements are of the area visible within the frame.

Object Description

Web - 09/24/2014

This canvaswork chimneypiece was worked between 1740 and 1760 in Boston, Massachusetts using crewel yarns with metallic thread accents on a linen canvas. This picture belongs to a group of mid-18th-century Boston pastoral embroideries, known today as the "Fishing Lady" pictures, which share similar motifs, and in many cases have a figure of a lady fishing by a pond or a seated lady spinning. In "Fishing Lady" embroideries, the imagery was inspired by a number of design sources, including a series of pastoral engravings by the French woman artist Claudine Bouzonnet Stella and her uncle Jacques Stella, hunting prints engraved by B. Baron, and paintings by John Wootton. These design elements can be seen repeated and combined in various ways in other Boston embroideries,and were likely chosen by the embroiderer or instructor. The individuality of each arrangement is complimented by the skill of the needlewoman, making the "Fishing Lady" group quite appealing. This particular chimneypiece is one of the most artistically drawn and executed Fishing Lady pictures known. Unfortunately, it is unsigned.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Pappas, Andrea. 2023 Embroidering the Landscape: Women, Art and the Environment in British North America, 1740 - 1770.
• Published: p. 25, fig. 7
[Book] Swan, Susan Burrows. 1977 Plain & Fancy: American Women and Their Needlework, 1700-1850.
• Published: p. 58, fig. 25
[Book] Swan, Susan Burrows. 1995 Plain and Fancy: American Women and their Needlework, 1650-1850.
• Published: p. 62, 63, fig. 28
[Book] Ring, Betty. 1993 Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850. I.
• Discussion of fishing lady pictures, pp. 44-53
[Book] Parmal, Pamela A. 2012 Women's Work: Embroidery in Colonial Boston.
• Similar: pp. 86-87, fig. 54