Needlework Picture

Although this needlework has no maker’s name associated with it, the refined imagery is typical of pictorial embroideries produced at Mary Balch’s School in Providence, Rhode Island in the earliest years of the nineteenth century (see also 41.16). The crisscross woven basket of flowers was a favored decorative motif at the time, not only appearing on contemporary New England samplers, but also as carved and painted ornaments on Federal furniture. The abundant arrangement of blossoms in the basket was understood in the optimistic years of the early Republic as an emblem of abundance, growth, and prosperity, imagery evoking Flora, goddess of flowers and spring from classical mythology. The botanically accurate blooms, much faded after 225 years, today appear to be stitched in a muted palette of whites, creams, and pale blues, but were originally far more vibrantly colored. One of the amusing aspects of the needlework’s composition is that the oversized basket at the flattened top of the hill is flanked by two full grown trees that are matched in size by the individual flowers in the basket. This type of out of scale composition can be found in other Balch school embroideries dating from the same time.