"1755 Ann Flower" Needlework Textile, important American needlework piece depicting a bold group of flowers in a vase with a deer, butterflies, rabbit, and a bird around it, silk on linen moire finished and stitched onto a wooden back board which is wood burned signed in the middle "Ann Flower 1755", 13 1/4" x 14 3/4", some damage to the brown silk ground commensurate with age, newly reframed in a float mount frame with uv protective glass. Provenance- Descended in the Blanchard family of Henniker, NH until now. Ann Flower came from a prominent Pennsylvania family that is famed for exquisite examples of American needlework. Elizabeth Flower, sister to Ann, stitched a family coat of arms sold January 21, 2006, lot 652 at Christies, NY. This work is similar to Ann Flower's in its compositional strengths, fine craftsmanship, and quality of material. Very few examples of this family's superior needlework are known, Ann Flower's sketchbook and embroidered prayer book cover are in the permanent collection of the Winterthur Museum.