Just The Sweetest Georgian Needlework I ever Did See of Children Playing The Simple Game of Marbles

THE STORY - I love these Georgian Silkworks, I love the idea of a young person most likely a young girl spending her days and evenings working away at their piece and how proud they must have been when they finished, framing them and having them adorn the walls of their or their loved ones homes. I know a lot of them were indeed from kits but that doesn't diminish their charm one iota for me, many of them have as there subject matter fine and noble figures, but not this one. Oh no not this one, the subject matter of this one is simple, three children playing a game of marbles and it is that, that has struck at my heart so strongly. The silkwork is relatively small and sits within what I think could be the original wooden oval frame which has been painted gold. At the centre of the picture is a large trunk of a tree from which its overhanging branches are portrayed, in front of which two boys and a girl play marbles, one boy is kneeling down about to throw his marble, the little girl in her bonnet stands over him and the second little boy in red stands looking on in concentration and he has just melted my heart with his hands on his knees and those wonderful buckled shoes. Behind him we see a church in the near distance with what looks like a line of trees in front of it. The children's faces and hands are painted but the rest I think is all embroidered, and I have to say I think the work is very, very fine, I love the branches of the trees and then in the foreground we have the longer stiches of the ground and I love the workings of those marbles. The detail really is quite exquisite and every time I look I see more wonderful detail like the bow around the chin tying the little girls hat on, the collars of two boys and of course those buckles on their shoes. I have found it difficult to accurately photo the piece as the light really effects the colour one sees the silkwork, sometimes it seems light almost metallic and if in low light then the tone is much deeper of gold and yellows. There was also one other difficulty in photographing the piece and that is there is a fold in the silk which runs from the side of the church to the boy in red face, when I tried to photograph it looks like a reflection of light hence the badly taken final photo but I think it does show the fold the best.

AGE - 1810

CONDITION - The silkwork is in good condition with no holes that I can see. There is the fold to the silk background which I have mentioned above. The colours of the piece are still strong. The frame is not perfect, there is some discolouration to the gold paint and some damage to the out rim of the frame, but for me it only enhances it charm and is what one would expect with its age. The frame is I think the original one, there is a small split on the side by the church which may have always been there (best seen in the second photo) and some of the backing paper has come away revealing the unpainted wood of the frame which I find quite beautiful. Its original hanger has been lost to time and some one some time ago has replaced it with two hooks and some string which I would test before hanging. The glass appears to be free from any scratches. I have also mentioned the difficulty of getting a true representation of the colour of the silkwork as it really does appear to change according to the amount of light is upon it and I hope this is portrayed amongst the photos shown.

DIMENSIONS (Approx) - Framed - Width 8" / 20.5cm, Height 6&3/4" / 17cm, Depth 1" / 2.5cm. Image Size - Width 6&1/4" / 16cm, Height 4&3/4" / 12cm

Fine and noble the subject matter of this silkwork may not be, but simple and sweet it most certainly is and for me is like a snapshot of over 200 years ago, not just with the subject matter of the piece but in the very making of it and thinking of the young person who made it and the many hours they must have spent on it, part pleasure, part education, but what they have produced is 100% wonderful and it really still is over 200 years later.