The embroidery is worked in wool and silk thread with tent stitch and French knots.
The embroidery is regarded as typical of a group of needlework pictures with related designs embroidered in Boston in the mid-eighteenth century. They were worked by the daughters of prosperous New England families.
The embroidery was donated to the Historic Northampton Museum (acc. no. 71.120; Northampton, Massachusetts). This museum has two other embroidered items, (a) an embroidered silk apron and (b) a metal thread embroidery depicting the Stoddard family coat of arms (acc. no. 71.119), which may have been worked by Esther Stoddard or her sister, Prudence.
Also known as: Esther Stoddard's shepherdess embroidery.
See also: Boston fishing lady embroidery series
Sources:
- PARMAL, Pamela A. (2012). Women’s Work: Embroidery in Colonial Boston, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
- www.historic-northampton.org/collections/recliningshepherdess.html (retrieved 5 June 2016).
- www.nscda.org/samplers/samp_show_image.php?sampid=4014 (retrieved 5 June 2016).
Digital source of illustration (retrieved 5 June 2016).
GVE