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Embroidered Picture

Nancey Wyett Whitney (American, born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, 1797–1888)
American, Wrentham, Massachusetts
early 19th century

Medium/Technique Silk plain weave embroidered with silk in couching, knot, satin and split stitches, hand painted with gouache
Dimensions Framed: 20 x 22 in. (50.8 x 55.9 cm)
Unframed: 14 1/2 x 16 in. (36.8 x 40.6 cm)
Credit Line Gift of Jane Cross in memory of Margaret Cross
Accession Number2011.2230
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsTextiles

DescriptionEmbroidered silk picture of young couple in the country; woman sitting in a tree wearing a gold dress in the center. To her left there is a dog. To her right a boy is sitting with a basket in his lap and also presenting the woman with a basket. In the background there are rolling hills, houses, a sky at dusk and trees with detailed leaves.

Frame and strainer appear to be original. Frame has three sections: outer border is gold-colored and molded. Middle border is black and has the words "WROUGHT BY NANCEY W. WHITNEY AT WRENTHAM ACADEMY" in gold lettering. Inner border is thin and gold.

Handwritten label on back:
"Nancy Wyatt (?) Whitney was the sister of my (Margaret T. Whittemore Lee) great grandmother (Julia Ann Whitney) who married Benjamin Allen Tillinghast in 1821-Aunt Nancy had the old house in East Greenwich"
ProvenanceJune 30, 2011, by inheritance from Margaret Cross to Jane Cross; 2011, year-end gift of Jane Cross to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 25, 2012)