Mary Holyoke
Sampler
North American, 1739-1740
Physical Qualities
Silk embroidery threads on linen ground, 14 11/16 x 7 11/16 in. (37.3 x 19.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Dena S. Katzenberg, Baltimore
Object Number
1987.298
Early American samplers from the Boston area were often vertically oriented, borderless, and narrow in shape with bands of alphabets worked in various stitches separated by horizontal border patterns. Mary Holyoke has added to these elements a conventional strawberry pattern, an unusual fret design, and a hexagonal border pattern which often appears in samplers from this area.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1987; Dena S. Katzenberg, Baltimore, MD; per Bolton and Coe: Estate of James L.Little, Esq.
Anita Jones, BMA, 'The Accomplished Stitch: American Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection,' 5/11-7/20/ 97, no. 4.
Inscribed: [Inscription:] "MARY HOLY/OKE APRIL B/ORN 30 1730" "HER/ SAMPLER IN THE 11 YEAR OF HER AGE"
