Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden Needlework

Description:

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden Needlework, made by a woman from a Monongahela Indian tribe, Pennsylvania, mid-19th century, fully worked in silk threads on a woven, possibly hemp, ground, ornamented with crystal beads, depicting the figures of Adam and Eve flanking the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, with encircling serpent, beside a river, surrounded by numerous plants, flowers, animals, and birds, (minor toning and fading),21 x 19 in., in a later molded wood frame.

Provenance: A note written by a descendant of the needleworker reports information passed down in the family of the origin and history of this work. It was reportedly made by a Native American woman of one of the Monongahela tribes, who lived in Pennsylvania along the Monongahela River. It was said that she spun the threads and dyed them with local leaves and berries. It also says that the needlework was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, or The Great Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition, an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from May 1 to October 15, 1851.
Estimate $400-600

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