Fire screen

Fire screen and needlework,
1750-1770,
Mahogany, brass

Status

Not on view

Date1745-1765

Geography Made - England

Medium/TechniqueWool, silk, linen

DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 22 in. x 19 3/8 in. x 3/4 in. (55.88 cm x 49.21 cm x 1.91 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Samuel Cabot, Vice Regent for Massachusetts, 1965

Object numberM-2469

DescriptionVertical, rectangular needlework picture depicting a hilly pastoral scene with a shepherd and shepherdess in the proper left foreground, a woman raking hay in the proper right midground, a piping shepherd and flock of sheep in the proper left background, a spreading oak tree at center back, and a large brick building in the proper right background. The scene is worked in faded shades of green, red, blue, yellow, brown, and ivory wool threads on a linen ground. Some of the highlights are worked in silk.

Many of the areas which were originally worked in black or dark brown wool, such as the hay rake, have been lost. The picture is framed in W-2182/A2.

Published ReferencesHelen Maggs Fede, Washington Furniture at Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, Virginia: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 1966), 18-19.

Mount Vernon's object research is ongoing and information about this object is subject to change. For information on image use and reproductions, click here.