Sampler

Object Name:

Sampler

Object ID:

2012.030.05

Date:

circa 1810

Description:

Sampler. Alphabetic bands with sawtooth border; incomplete. Linen and silk, c. 1810. Unidentified maker.

Undyed linen plain weave ground; silk embroidery threads in red, pink, green, blue, brown, and blueish-white. All four edges of the linen are folded to the back and hemmed with green silk. The same green silk was then used to create a cross-stitched saw-tooth border. The top two lines of embroidery were done in blueish-white and consist of script capital A through Y. There is a space between the O and P large enough for another letter, and had this space not been left, the full alphabet would have fit on these two lines. Below is an uppercase cross-stitched alphabet plus an ampersand, followed by a full set of numerals. The last line of embroidery is a lowercase alphabet. These lines of embroidery are separated by cross-stitched patterns. The remainder of the linen ground is
empty save for a few cross stitches in faded pink at the bottom-left corner of the sampler. It is unlikely that this sampler was ever finished or framed.

Material:

Linen
Silk

Dimensions:

H-17 W-15.8 inches

Provenance:

Part of the Perry-Dudley Family Archive and Shepard Collection.

Credit Line:

Gift of Klaudia S. Shepard

Subjects:

Embroidery