Featured Painting on Slate - floral cross

I have found a few similar items online, but I would be interested to hear if anyone is familiar with this type of work and when it might have been popular.
It is 12 x 5 3/4" (30.5 x 14.5cm). There is no signature visible (the thing that looks like a possible signature in the upper left is a series of chips in the paint that catch the light). There is nothing on the reverse of the slate.

 

Looks a lot like something my sister would do in the 60s-70s; she'd usually do them on wood plaques, or other recycled wood items, boxes, bowls....but might have done it on slate if she'd found a piece of slate.

 

This is not a subject I know, but I do know that when these types of crafts are popular with hobbyists, there are usually newspapers stories.

With a rather quick search, the earliest piece I found (not so much the hobbyists, yet) was 1838 (see below). After that, as home hobby, floral paintings on slate seemed to surge in the late 1870s through the 1890s. Swells and lulls follow, uptick post-WWII, and big uptick late 1960s. Popularity continued and seems to have peaked in the 1990s... interest has been waning ever since.

I think the painting style of yours is fairly old-fashioned for the late 1960s and later, but wouldn't be surprised if it was part of the post-WWII interest.

Just for interest's sake, the following...

 

Such interesting research, Jivvy! Thank you. The examples I found that looked somewhat similar in style were dated to the late 19th/early 20th centuries.
The size of the slate is not the same as those used in schools, so I am thinking it less likely that this is a reuse of an antique/vintage school slate painted in the 1960s.

 

It's a cross. And does look antique.

Debora

 

I agree that it looks antique. This style of botanical painting was very popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. And I think it's lovely.

 

It is beautiful, and it looks 19th century to me.

It reminds me of floral Easter crosses which are made in some Catholic regions. A symbol of the resurrection, life springing from a symbol of death. Or Christian cross meets Tree of Life.

 

Your piece makes me think of postcards like this one. It was mailed in 1911 and could have been published anytime between 1907 and 1911. The painting it was based on might have been done between the later 19th century and not long before the postcard was published.

 

Thank you all for your comments. I feel more confident in the dating now. It was a nice find in the local thrift.

 

I have a couple of paintings that were called "Yard Long" because they are about 1 foot high and 3 feet long. The flowers are almost exactly like yours so I'd give this a date in the late 19th-early 20th century.

 

Looks like there might be a signature in the upper left hand black area, but I may well be wrong.

 

No, unfortunately just a series of chips in the paint. I looked at that area under magnification.