An English needlework picture

Circa 1700-1730

Finely worked in silk and wool in tent stitch with a woman dancing over small hummocks, between a strawberry plant and a flower. The figure here recalls the earlier rustics shown in the engravings of Sebald Beham and the paintings of Pieter Bruegel, in both her attitude of careless abandon and her pose, which particularly echoes that of women in Bruegel’s ‘The Peasant Wedding Dance’ and ‘The Wedding Dance in the Open Air’.

With some losses to the wool stitches at the base of the picture.

The needlework 33.5cm (13¼”) high and 27cm (10⅝”) wide, in a parcel gilt frame 42cm (16½”) high and 36cm (14⅛”) wide.

59 Needlework early 18th century picture dancer 2.JPG
59 Needlework early 18th century picture dancer 3.JPG
59 Needlework early 18th century picture dancer 4.JPG
59 Needlework early 18th century picture dancer 5.JPG
59 Needlework early 18th century picture dancer 6.JPG
59 Needlework early 18th century picture dancer 7.JPG
59 Needlework early 18th century picture dancer 8.JPG
59 Needlework early 18th century picture dancer 9.JPG