Band Sampler

1739

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Mary Taylor

Band Sampler

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.

Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Lessons Learned: American Schoolgirl Embroideries," November 23, 2014-May 10, 2015.

Anita Jones, BMA, 'The Accomplished Stitch: American Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection,' 5/11-7/20/97, no. 3.

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.

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.