Mary Ann Earle, Ludlow Castle, Marvelous Large Georgian Needlework on Silk in Original Reverse Glass Painted Frame rounded corners and a couple of old

and a couple of old well repaired splits in the lid

with these wonderfully eager large ears and this  heartbreakingly homely face

with smiling faces pointing out

carefully painted but with brush strokes evident

Mary Ann Earle, Ludlow Castle, Marvelous Large Georgian Needlework on Silk in Original Reverse Glass Painted Frame rounded corners and a couple of oldMy favorite find of the week, and among my favorites ever, found in southern Maine but painstakingly created in Shropshire, England, c. 1820s. I occasionally come across fine early 19th century British embroideries on painted silk in this manner (and some less fine Victorian ones that are wrongly described as Georgian) but this one feels like it was expressly made to arrive in my hands 200 years after its creation; for me its all about her, and I