Needlework Picture of Grapes by Elizabeth Roberts Canby

Dateca. 1810

Maker Mrs. James Canby (Elizabeth Roberts) 1781 - 1868

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a plain weave silk ground (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsFramed OW: 10 7/8", Framed OH: 8 1/4"
Needlework by sight OW: 9 7/8", OH: 7 1'4"

Credit LineGift of Beatrix T. Rumford

Object number2009-150

DescriptionThis is a framed rectangular needlework picture worked in shades of yellow, green, and purple silk embroidery threads on a plain weave silk ground. The design consists of a centered motif of two grape clusters and leaves within an oval leaf and vine cartouche. The picture is unsigned.

Stitches: back, outline, satin
Label TextThis silk embroidered picture is the type of needlework project a young lady would create after learning to sitch by working a sampler. Elizabeth Roberts was the daughter of Robert Roberts and Catherine Deshler Roberts of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She married James Canby in May of 1803, and moved to Wilmington, Delware, where family history states she created this picture.

Stitched in Time:
Like Amelia de Young, Elizabeth Roberts completed this needlework picture after she married James Canby. She likely worked it as a decorative piece for their Wilmington, Delaware home. In her Reminiscences of a Nonagenarian, Sarah Smith Emery (1787-1879) commented that “framed and glazed, [needlework] often formed the chief ornament of the sitting room or the best chamber.”Inscription(s)A label on the reverse of the framed needlework picture states: "Made by Elizabeth/Roberts Canby (Mrs./ James, 1871-1868) about/ 1810 when she was living/ in Wilmington, Del."Mark(s)No marks.Provenanceca. 1810 Elizabeth Roberts Canby (Wilmington, DE); prior to 2009, passed by descent to Beatrix T. Rumford (Lexington, VA); 2009-present, given to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)