The cartouche band in the lower
third of this English sampler bears a remarkable resemblance to other
samplers from the later eighteenth century, including two reproduced by The
Scarlet Letter: one made by Sarah Limah in 1748
(from the collection of the Shelburne Museum), the other made in
1771 by Susan Dunn.
This is the earliest appearance of interconnected cartouches that we have
seen, and it is an interesting example of how certain patterns were borrowed
and recur on samplers made centuries apart. For its early date, Mary's
sampler is quite progressive in design, in that the band shape of the usual
seventeenth century sampler is giving way to a more pictorial, square
format. The verses follow, but it should be noted that the second,
reproduced from the original, is a bit incomprehensible.
If all mankind would live in
muttil love
The world would much resemble that above
Awets a fether acheF arod and onest man is
The noblet works of God
Stitches used in the sampler are
cross, counted satin, double backstitch, diagonal double backstitch, back
stitch, stem, and Algerian eyelet. |