Needlepoint Map of the World Gifted to the Empress Josephine 

Fanny le Gay (French, active early 19th century), ca 1810. A map of the world in silk embroidered on cotton, surmounted by a depiction of Apollo and his chariot with a reserve below reading Présente/A Sa Majesté /L'Impératrice Reine/A Rouen/(illegible) May 1810, all within a border of leaves in mustard and green. Signed l.l. Fanny le Gay a Rouen. Handwritten label on verso, housed in a gilt frame; 24.5 x 32 in. (sight). 

Note: The label on verso reads "This map was bought by Lady Donnington in 1910, from Baron de Galland, in whose possession it had been since it was worked by his ancestress Fanny le Gay for the Empress Josephine though presented finally to the Empress Marie Louise." The Fitzwilliam Museum holds an embroidered map of Europe by Fanny le Gay, active in Rouen, that dates to 1809, which is similar in style and has an identical border.

Accompanied by George Lower, The Gettysburg Sutler Catalogue No. 35, dated Winter 1982, in which the map was previously listed as Lot B43.

Yellowing throughout. Stains on central image.