Chair seat cover

Anna Poor Parsons

ca. 1770 · Wool on linen · The American Wing

This chair seat cover is fully embroidered with multicolored crewel wools on a plainweave linen base fabric. The pattern is of serrated “flame stitch” lozenges in graduated shades (light to dark) of pinks, reds, yellows, blues, and purples. The background between the lozenges is in shades of green to brown. There few exactly repeated designs, either in shape or color, among the patterned lozenges. The embroidered area is bordered by an approximately 1 inch wide area where the linen base fabric remains unembroidered. Although currently unmounted, the chair seat was removed from a chair and was framed at some point in its history, likely in the first half of the 20th century.

Artist

Anna Poor Parsons

Date

ca. 1770

Medium

Wool on linen

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Friends of the American Wing Fund, 2015