Skip to main content
Band Sampler

Mary Taylor

Band Sampler

1739

Scroll

Mary Taylor

Band Sampler

1739

Physical Qualities Linen ground, silk embroidery threads, 15 3/16 x 7 13/16 in. (38.6 x 19.9 cm.)
Credit Line Gift of Dena S. Katzenberg, Baltimore
Object Number 1987.299
The earliest American samplers, following English practice, were generally narrow with bands of alphabets worked in multiple stitches separated by decorative border patterns. These were not displayed, but served as references when marking linens or ornamenting clothing. In the 18th century, as samplers began to be exhibited, outer borders, verses, and more elaborate elements became fashionable. Samplers from the same geographical region sometimes feature similar designs, indicating the influence of a single schoolmistress. The bird-and-lily motif and stylized rose on Mary Taylor’s exquisitely stitched sampler place it within a group of samplers made in Newport, Rhode Island, between 1721 and 1750. The verse Arise Awake, Your Lamps To Take And Do No Longer Slumber You Must Them Trim To Wait On Him, Unto His Wedding Chamber, refers to the parable of the “Wise and Foolish Virgins,” which teaches believers to be prepared for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1987; Dena S. Katzenberg by purchase, Baltimore, MD.
Lessons Learned: American Schoolgirl Embroidery

Textiles American Needlework
Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993, Vol. I, pp. 173-175. This example mentioned, p. 173, ft. 2. close to figs. 195-197.
Bolton & Coe, p. 79 lists this sampler from "Estate of James L. Little, Esq."l p. 278 verse # 184 as 0f 1837; p. 316, verses 489 no 2 and no3 as of 1700 - New Testament.
Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993, Vol. I, pp. 173-175, figs. 195-198, esp. close to 197.

Glee Krueger, "A Gallery of American Samplers". New York: Bonanza Books, 1984, p. 25.

Glee Kreuger, "New England Samplers to 1840." Sturbridge, Mass.: Old Sturbridge Village, 1978, fig.11.

Marcus Huish, "Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries." New York: Dover Publications, 1970, p. 81.

Betty RIng, "American Needlework Treasures." New York: E.P. Dutton and Museum of American Folk Art, 1987, p. 4.

Betty Ring, "Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee: Needlework in the Education of Rhode Island Women, 1730-1830." Providence: The Rhode Island Historical Society, 1983, pp.64-67, illustration.

Inscribed: Worked in multicolored threads from the top are: an alphabet of 5/16" uppercase letters A-R (2 versions of A and F, no J)/S-Z (no U) and 1-1/2" numbers 1-10 (2versions of 3); an alphabet of 1/2" uppercase script letters including A-L (no I)/M-V (noU)/W-Z. Verse in 1/4" upper and lowercase letters: "It Be No Wonder That Men Turn To/Clay When Rocks and Stones And Monuments Decay"; a second verse, in 1/4" upper and lowercase letters letters: "Arise Awake Your Lamps To Take And/Do No Longer Slumber You Must Then/Trim To Waite On Him Unto His Wedding Chamber"; alphabet in 5/16" uppercase letters A-O (no J)/P-Z (no U); signature and date in 1/4" upper and lower-case letters "Mary Taylor Her Sampler Made In The/12 Year of Her Age 1740 Hast No Need/ To Tell Thy Miseries Will No Comfort/Bred Men Help The Most T--- Think Thou". Printed label on reverse: "G.J. ESSELEN/SUCCESSOR TO/MRS. J.C. White/19 Bromfield St. Boston, Mass." Also stick-on label with handwritten numbers: "3371 68/4". This label obscures remains of another printed label. Handwritten with ink on backing paper, "No. 1"; handwritten, with pencil, on backing paper, "(34)"; also an attempt to write out verse on front.[Removed when reframed 1997. Placed in curatorial folder.

Maker

Mary Taylor

1727–2000

English, born 1728-1729
Meet Mary →

Explore the Collection Further

E. Sills
Band sampler with alphabets, floral baskets, etc.
1812
Ann Maria Fowler
Band Sampler with Quotations from Isaac Watts and Proverbs
1807
Margaret Lowd
Band Sampler with Alphabets and Buildings
1821
Jean Monro
Band Sampler with the Lord's Prayer
1759–1768
Unknown
Dechado (sampler)
1784–1794
Zoë Charlton
Wrist Bands (Spirit Squad Series)
2020
C.J. Mason and Co.
"Bandana Pattern" Pitcher
1824–1834
Band (datejime)
2009
Japanese Man's Band (datejime)
2009
Band (datejime)
2009
Double-Sided Sampler / Bars Quilt
1929–1939
Cadwallader Washburn
Abandoned
1919