Sampler

1799

Maker

Eliza V--na-- (dates unknown)

Measurements

24 in x 19-1/8 in (sight, 21-1/8 in x 16-1/4 in)

Materials

Silk on canvas

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of H. Rodney Sharp

Accession Number

1959.3710

Inscription

“[Illegible] thy breast. / That fear of soft passion  That bosom of rest. / Where every bright virtue alternately glows. / in a form that is spotless and fair as my rose.” and “Let virtue be thy constant guide. / And truth in evry [sic] word preside. / While knowledge gives to life azest. / And pure Religion makes the blest.” are stitched into text blocks below alphabets and numbers.  “Eliza V--na-- her Sampler Dec.r 26th 1799” is stitched along the bottom edge.

Condition Notes

The needlework has several areas of loss, including almost an entire line in the center.  As framed, it is missing about 1-5/8 inches along the bottom.

Provenance

Ex coll. H. Rodney Sharp

Comments

This sampler has no early provenance requiring that its identity be determined by internal evidence only.  The name of the maker cannot be read in full.  The two text blocks of verses likely come from as yet unidentified published sources, but not the commonly used psalm books so prevelant in early American homes.  That the sample is American stems in part from its citation in the 1921 book, American Samplers.  The stylized vine around the outside border may one day help localize its creation.

Bibliography

Ethel Stanwood Bolton and Eva Johnston Coe American Samplers (Boston:  The Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1921),  p. 338, no. 664.