The Beaded Angel

That's what Tom always called it, but it's not an angel at all.

This is the story of a family heirloom, that now resides over our refurbished mantel. 

Tom's Grandfather, Bill Anderson, created this piece in about 1900, when he was still a youth.  This was the late Victorian, early Edwardian age of classical revival art and embellishment.  The subject matter is a Greek or Roman boy admiring nature.

The background is needle point, done either by Bill or his mother.  Bill was a teenager in a time when beading was a popular home craft.  The whole figure is covered with tiny glass beads.  We have a few other pieces that he did that have survived as well.

 Tom inherited this work of art from his mother, who like her mother, was an accomplished seamstress and fiber artist.  She appreciated what it was and it hung over her mantel until her death.

 In fact, Tom took it because no one else wanted it.  Everyone thought it was ugly.  I wasn't sure either.  But just as we finally studied it enough to decide it was not an angel, we also came to appreciate it's beauty.  It is back in its place of honor.

Of course, our kids still think it's ugly.  Maybe one of them will admire it and want it some day.  And even though we know that it is not an angel, we have never come up with another name for it, so that's what we still call it, the Beaded Angel.