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Framed Silk Needlepoint Picture Henrietta Groverman (1810-93), Baltimore, Maryland, c. 1820
2 – 12 August 2025, 12:00 EDT
Online, Skinner Marlborough, MassachusettsUS$800 - US$1,200
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Framed Silk Needlepoint Picture
Henrietta Groverman (1810-93), Baltimore, Maryland, c. 1820
plain-weave linen and silk, in glazed maple-veneer frame
panel 11 1/4 x 22 in.
Symmetrical brick houses in tidy gardens are motifs closely identified with silk embroideries made in 1820s Baltimore, but this example by Henrietta Groverman is extraordinary in its variety and technical excellence. She skillfully applied such methods as stumpwork and counted-thread cross-stitch to create texture in the landscaped scenery and lend weight to the charming figures populating it. Pictorial designs are most often subordinate to blocks of text in girls' needlework, but the ambitious Henrietta filled her margins with shining stars and a fine picket fence.
plain-weave linen and silk, in glazed maple-veneer frame
panel 11 1/4 x 22 in.
Symmetrical brick houses in tidy gardens are motifs closely identified with silk embroideries made in 1820s Baltimore, but this example by Henrietta Groverman is extraordinary in its variety and technical excellence. She skillfully applied such methods as stumpwork and counted-thread cross-stitch to create texture in the landscaped scenery and lend weight to the charming figures populating it. Pictorial designs are most often subordinate to blocks of text in girls' needlework, but the ambitious Henrietta filled her margins with shining stars and a fine picket fence.
Footnotes
Literature
Included in Appendix I, "List of Maryland Samplers and Pictorial Embroideries" in Gloria Seaman Allen, A Maryland Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery, 1738-1860 (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2007), p. 308-9.