Stumpwork panel of a peacock

1825-1860

Maker

Probably Eliza Naudain Corbit (1810-1844)

Measurements

Frame: 9-1/2 in x 10-1/4 in x 3/4 in; needlework: 6 in x 6-5/8 in (sight)

Materials

Silk, linen

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of Barbara Nowland Allison

Accession Number

2016.70

Condition Notes

The panel has some dark stains near the peacock's head and color bleeding in various places.

Provenance

The panel descended in the Daniel Corbit family with another panel (accession no. 2016.69) from Eliza Naudain Corbit (1810-1844) to Louisa Anderson Corbit Corbit (1838-1901) to Eliza Naudain Corbit Lea (1861-1945) to Louise Corbit Lea Nowland (1898-1989) to the donor

Comments

The stumpwork embroidery shows a peacock perched on a tree limb encircled by blue and pale yellow scrolls.  The peacock has a glass-bead eye.  An erratic Greek key scroll arcs above and below the image.  The needlework is cut to a complex scrolled outline that includes sections at each side that have pieces of silk cloth scrolls stitched to the background.  The peacock and blue and yellow scrolls are stuffed to raise them from the background.  The embroidery displays a wide range of complex knots and stitches.  The entire composition is stitched onto a 20th century greenish-blue background cloth.

This unusual and expertly worked embroidery has little precedent in America making accurate identification problematic, including its time of execution.

This panel is paired with a similar embroidery, the other showing a goose.  It is accession no. 2016.69.