{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O124964"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O124964/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BP5496/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BP5496/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BP5496","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009BX9828","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O124964/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O124964","accessionNumber":"512-1870","objectType":"Oil painting","titles":[{"title":"An Old Woman Spinning Silk","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Margaret Sarah Carpenter was a prolific portraitist who exhibited throughout the first half of the 19th century at the Royal Academy; three of her portraits are in the National Portrait Gallery.  This genre scene of an old woman spinning is one of her earliest known works.  She seems to have exhibited it at the British Institute in 1816, when she was just 23, under the title 'An Old Woman Spinning Silk'.  It may have been cut down before it was sold; the exhibition catalogue records a measurement of '40 by 37 inches', but the V&A's painting is significantly smaller.","physicalDescription":"An oil painting depicting an old woman in cloak and bonnet seated at a spinning wheel.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Carpenter, Margaret Sarah","id":"A2064"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oil paint","id":"AAT15050"},{"text":"canvas","id":"AAT14078"}],"techniques":[{"text":"oil painting","id":"AAT178684"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oil on canvas","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"}],"styles":[{"text":"British School","id":"x30967"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2007BP5496","2009BX9828"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES343721"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"oil paintings","id":"AAT33799"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1816","earliest":"1811-01-01","latest":"1820-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by John M. Parsons","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"76.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approx.","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"66.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approx.","note":""},{"dimension":"","value":"","unit":"","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Measurement taken at time of assessment prior to BH decant - Frame Dimensions (mm): H-1008 W-905 D-75;\nPainting Dimensions (mm): not measured"}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from <i>Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860</i>, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bequeathed by John M. Parsons, 1870.  This is most likely the painting exhibited under the title 'An Old Woman Spinning Silk' at the British Institute in 1816.","historicalContext":"Margaret Sarah Carpenter, née Geddes, was a prolific portraitist; three of her portraits are in the National Portrait Gallery.  Her husband's obituary stated that '[she] would certainly have been a Royal Academician but for her sex' (<i>Gentleman's Magazine</i>, September 1866, p. 410).","briefDescription":"Oil Painting, An Old Woman Spinning Silk, by Margaret Sarah Carpenter, ca. 1816.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Parkinson, R., Victoria and Albert Museum, <u>Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860</u>, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 23"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"women","id":"AAT25943"},{"text":"hand spinning","id":"AAT53662"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["512-1870"],"accessionNumberNum":"512","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1870,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-11","recordCreationDate":"2006-06-08","availableToBook":false}}