Spot Motif Sampler with Initials “I.S.”
1734-1744
Scroll
Spot Motif Sampler with Initials “I.S.”
1734-1744
Physical Qualities
Linen ground, wool embroidery threads, 17 1/2 x 14 3/4 in. (44.5 x 37.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Richard Lansburgh, Baltimore
Object Number
2015.38
Rectangular sampler on natural linen ground worked in dark blue, dark green, red, yellow, pink, light green, and white wool threads using cross and backstitches. Spot motifs are scattered across the surface of the sampler. The largest appears as two large initials "I S" in the top half of the embroidery which are filled with various patterns and colors and outlined in spirals. Between the two large initials is a large floral motif. Other spot motifs include a woman wearing a red and white dress with "IS" on either side, dogs, a windmill, a pillow, a chalice, the repeated initials "IS" at the lower left on either side of small "tree", "stick" figures on a ship, and many other unusual geometric forms. The edges appear to be turned under and hemmed, but unevenly on the right side, which is the only side that shows. The other three sides are covered with a straightcut tiger maple frame, not original to sampler.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 2014; Richard Lansburgh, Baltimore
Browne, Clare and Wearden, Jennifer, Samplers from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: V&A Museum, 1999, p.92, pl. 66.
Humphrey, Carol. "Samplers," Fitzwilliam Museum Handbooks, Cambridge: University Press, 1997, pp. 80-81.
Jan Hiester and Kathleen Staples, This Have I Done: Samplers and Embroideries from Charleston and the Lowcountry, Charleston, S.C.: The Curious Works Press and The Charleston Museum, 2001, p.;15, fig. 4.
"An A-Z of British 18th and 19th century Samplers". Whitney Antiques, London, 1993, pp. 25, 28.
Historical Needlework of Pennslvania, New York: Charles Scribner Sons, 1968, p. 37.
Humphrey, Carol. "Samplers," Fitzwilliam Museum Handbooks, Cambridge: University Press, 1997, pp. 80-81.
Jan Hiester and Kathleen Staples, This Have I Done: Samplers and Embroideries from Charleston and the Lowcountry, Charleston, S.C.: The Curious Works Press and The Charleston Museum, 2001, p.;15, fig. 4.
"An A-Z of British 18th and 19th century Samplers". Whitney Antiques, London, 1993, pp. 25, 28.
Historical Needlework of Pennslvania, New York: Charles Scribner Sons, 1968, p. 37.
Inscribed: "IS" embroidered in top half of sampler. Letters "I" and "S" embroidered on either side of a woman wearing a red and white dress at upper right. "M" and "S"/ "I" and "S" embroidered on either side of the trunk of a 'tree' in the lower right corner of the sampler. "" and "IS" at the lower left on either side of a large floral arrangement.
