Important Americana Including American Stoneware Assembled by Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Hochberg

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Lot 286
  • 286

Fine and Rare Fishing Lady/Shepherdess and Piper canvaswork picture, Polly Burns, Boston, circa 1768 circa 1768

Estimate
60,000 - 120,000 USD
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Description

  • Fine and Rare Fishing Lady/Shepherdess canvaswork picture, attributed to Polly Burns, Boston, circa 1768

  • Worked in wool and silk embroidery on linen, with an "upright" shepherdess, lady gathering flowers, fisherman and piper

  • 15 7/8 in. by 24 in.
  • circa 1768
Worked in wool and silk embroidery on a linen ground, with an upright shepherdess, a lady gathering flowers, fisherman, shepherd, and piper. In what appears to be a period frame and glass.

Provenance

Mrs. Richard Wait, Miss Maria Wait, Boston, Massachusetts

Exhibited

Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Special Loan Exhibition, Boston, 1630-1872, "Embroidered Picture: Shepherdess and Piper," Polly Burns, Medford, Number 1241.

Catalogue Note

According to Betty Ring: "This needlework picture is attributed to Polly Burns, circa 1768. Pieces within this group are worked primarily in Roumanian couching (also called New England laid stitch.) The same bold upright shepherdess is the dominant figure in five anonymous examples that have all survived with excellent color. Polly Burns was probably Mary Burns (1753-1794), the daughter of Francis Burns (c. 1723-1800) and Margaret (c, 1716-1794), who are said to have lived in the Fountain House in Medford, Massachusetts. Mary married Samuel Buel (c. 1758-1813) of Litchfield, Connecticut, on December 25, 1783. For further information, see Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, volume I, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), pp 49-50, fig. 48.