Early 18thC Period Tree of Life Silkwork c.1700

The Queen Anne period silkwork picture, in unrestored order, presented in its original gilded and ebonised moulded frame and mounted on board, depicting three birds in a flowering tree with a lamb and running dog below surviving from the first quarter of eighteenth century England.

The picture and frame are both in decorative and tired condition but remain stable, beautifully decayed but still in original un-meddled with condition, which is always what, we look for. The threads that remain show good colour, the whole having several tears to the pale ivory silk background which is creased, though the picture is still a very attractive entity in its entirety. Please refer to the photographs for full visual reference. The work would benefit from being glazed and tightened.

The tree, central to the picture, is almost certainly the tree of life, representing the immaculate state of humanity free from corruption and Original Sin before the Fall. The lamb is signifying the lamb of God and In the Christian tradition, this Lamb of God is the reality of the figure of the tree of life planted at the center of the garden, with the signs of whose eternal grace “the world is charged”

The main bird pictured center is a phoenix or parrot, the other two flanking the tree perhaps partridges. World trees are frequently depicted with birds in their branches, and their roots extending into earth or water. The picture has some similarities with an American work by Mary King of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which was created in 1754.

A very pretty and early picture, its part decaying state only adding to its faded splendour.