Exceptional American Antique Silk and Watercolor Mourning Needlework. Late 18th - early 19th century. The needlework is exquisite. In good age related condition, some minor age related spots to watercolor sky upper left. The back has a card that reads Mary & Jesus. In antique gilt wood deep frame that measures 15 1/2"x13"x2 1/2". Provenance: Charleston SC Private Collection.These silk embroidered memorials were very popular in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century and were predominantly stitched by young girls in private schools, many in the 100 year period between 1750-1840. A memorial needlework picture was one of the expected accomplishments of a young cultured girl from 1750 to about 1840. These typically show a tomb, mourning figures, and weeping willow trees. They are beautiful, sensitive, and graceful works of needlework art that are highly sought after by the top collectors of antique samplers and needlework. Contrary to popular belief, the stitchers of these memorials were not necessarily in mourning over the loss of a loved one but merely creating a popular form of needlework. If they had no one close enough to them to memorialize they may dedicate it to a well known figure that had died or inscribe the tomb "sacred to friendship" or simply leave it blank. Ref: Mourning Art & Jewelry by Maureen Delorme

15 1/2"x13"x2 1/2" Wt. 3 pds