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Band Sampler with the Lord’s Prayer

Jean Monro

Band Sampler with the Lord’s Prayer

1759-1768

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Jean Monro

Band Sampler with the Lord’s Prayer

1759-1768

Physical Qualities Bast fabric (probably linen) ground, silk embroidery threads, 16 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. (41.9 x 34.9 cm.)
Credit Line Gift of Mrs. Francis White, from the Collection of Mrs. Miles White, Jr.
Object Number 1973.76.361
Samplers provided a perfect vehicle for teaching social and religious mores. Jean Monro embroidered her sampler in neat horizontal bands enclosing alphabets and biblical and religious texts. While carefully stitching the Lord’s Prayer, Proverbs 30:31, a version of the Psalm of David, and a beatitude, she was training both her mind and fingers to be obedient, diligent, and dutiful. The particular diamond motifs, stylized floral pattern, and stepped and dogtooth borders in her sampler are seen in early Philadelphia examples, suggesting that she lived in or around that city. However, her presence there has not been documented. As a student, Jean Monro signed and dated her sampler but later removed part of the date—as did other women who disliked the unintentional revelation of their age.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1973; Nancy Brewster (Mrs. Frances White) by inheritance; Virginia Purviance Bonsal (Mrs. Miles White, Jr.).
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. II, pp. 328-337. Betty Ring, American Needlework Treasures: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the collection of Betty Ring, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1987, p. 36, figs. 58-59.

Inscribed: All embroidered: Border area: 3/8' high upper case alphabet 'ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTVWXYZ' (no J or U);same line: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 1st band: 3/16' high lower case alphabet with a few upper case at the end: "abcedfghiklmnopqrfstuvWwXYyZ" [no j]; On the same line: numbers "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12" 3rd band: text worked in 3/8' upper and lower case letters: "THE Heav'ns declare thy Glory, Lord which that alone can fill./ The Firmament and Stars exprefs their great Creator's Skill./ The Dawn of each returning Day, frefh Beams of Knowledge brings/And from the dark returns of Night divine Inftruction fprings."; "Favour is deceitful/ and beauty is vain but/ a woman that feareth ye Lord fhe fhall be praifed."[Note: archaic form of 's' written as 'f' is used in these inscriptions.] 5th band: 3/8' upper and lower case letters: "OUR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in/ earth As it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trefpaffes As we/ forgive them that trefpafs againft us And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil,/ For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen" 7th band: 3/8' upper and lower case letters: "Give me O Lord thine early Grace Nor let my Soul complain,/ That the Young Morning of my Days Has all been fpent in vain."; 3/8' upper and lower case letters "Bleffed are the pure in heart/ for they fhall fee God" 8th band: 3/8' upper and lower case: 'Iean Monro Her Work Done in The Thirteenth Year of Her Age March th23/ 176[ ]'

Maker

Jean Monro

1746–2000

probably British, born between 1747 and 1756
Meet Jean →

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