Skip to main content

Sampler

Dateearly 19th century
MediumEmbroidery; silk threads on a plain-woven, undyed linen ground
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (height x width): 18 x 6 3/8in. (45.7 x 16.2cm)
ClassificationsTextiles
Credit LineGift of Noah Webster House, Inc.
DescriptionMarking sampler worked in light olive, medium brown, tan, light blue, and yellow silk threads on a plain-woven linen ground using cross and other stitches. The sampler is rectangular, oriented vertically. It is laid out with 17 rows of five alphabets, over a group of letters at the bottom. The lines of alphabets are separated by various narrow straight borders. There is a four-sided narrow border.

The sampler has a 3/16-inch double-turned hem on the top and side edges, and a selvedge on the bottom. The sampler is not framed.

Letters and Numbers: There are five alphabets plus 24 additional individual letters. The letters are uppercase block in alphabets 1, 2 and 4, uppercase script in alphabet 3, and lowercase block in alphabet 5. The letters J and U are present in all alphabets. Due to space restrictions, the letter Z in the first and the fourth alphabets are placed on lines outside of the alphabets they belong to. The additional letters are uppercase block AFSASCLSCEHFS/ MLSALSRASIS. The embroiderer uses the long 's'.

Stitches: The principal stitch on the sampler is cross stitch over two threads; it is also worked in Algerian eye, rice, and straight stitches.

Condition: There are holes in the lower portion of the sampler. There is some stitch loss, primarily to the horizontal lines separating the alphabets. The sampler has light to moderate fading. The sampler is not framed.
Object number1997.106.1
MarkingsTranscription of text lines:
"ABCDEF/ GHIJKLM/ NOPQRST/ UVWXY/ ABCDEFZ/ GHIJKLM/ NOPQRST/ UVWXY/ ABCDEFG/ HIJKLM/ NOPQR/ STUV/ WXYZ/ ABCDEFGHIJKLM/ NOPQRSTUVWXY/ abcdefghijklmnopq/ rstuvwxyz/ AFSASCLSCEHFS/ MLSALSRASIS".
On View
Not on view
Sampler
Jane Charity Bartholomew
7 June 1832
Pair of Samplers
Lucy Stanley
about 1795, about 1820
Sampler
Eveline Frances Nichols
4 August 1840
Sampler
Ellis Amelia Huntley
1831
Gift of Miss Mabel Johnson, 1952.89.0a  Photograph by David Stansbury.  © 2010 The Connecticut …
Harriet Newell Johnson
1834
Sampler
Electa Morton
1804
Sampler
Amelia Hopkins
1837
Sampler
Harriet Upson
3 May 1831
Sampler
Elizabeth Belden
September 1792
Connecticut Historical Society collection, 1950.361.0  Photograph by David Stansbury.  © 2010 T…
Eunice Ripley
1792
Sampler
Emeline Webster
1824
Sampler
Mary Clapp
August 1804