Embroidered American Federal Eagle On Silk Panel

A great American Federal Eagle embroidered on blue silk, exhibiting several styles of stitching and materials. Sewn on a (one sided) section of blue silk measuring 19 x 21 inches approximate. The piece is currently framed, and the collector who had it framed is no longer with us to state what was on the back, etc.  From my examination (and not wanting to disturb the piece), it appears the silk was cut almost to the dimensions of the inner measure of the gilt inner frame, and there appears to be no unraveling.  The eagle looks to heavy to have held together very long as a flag. The wings and body are in a high relief to perhaps a quarter of an inch.

The color of threads on the eagle banner are tan, with black shadowing threads; the beak is a bit darker tan.  The eye appears to be glass.  The shield uses a darker blue with applied white paper stars, red and white stripes in silk with the shield bordered with silver thread and dividing lines for stripes, etc.  The laurel branch is dark green silk with tan berries. The arrows use the silver thread with black thread for accent.

The riband is bordered with silver threads, with black thread accent, and “E PLURIBUS UNUM” uses white thread with both straight and whip stitching. The 13 stars are paper directly applied to the silk.

To be more exact, the banner silk was most likely a darker bluish-gray.  The banner apparently was found by the last collector in a folded condition, and some discoloration shows in the upper fold, and not as much in the lower. There are a few areas that have small holes such as near the tips of the arrow points, which is by far the largest, and some small stress tears in the upper fold and upper wrinkles. There is essentially no damaged threads. The glass eye has some small cracks by holding together.  The colors as photographed look more bland that in person.

In researching the period, I found the large eye with dark showing seems common to the late 1820s -40s era.  The style of the banner/ eagle appears on Maritime examples, but not exclusively.

There is no provenance to original location, or previous ownership prior to my source. The banner came from a Pennsylvania collection.

The frame is antique, and in very good condition.  Overall measure is 23.5 x 25.

A fine piece of Americana.