VOLUME XXXIV
A SELECTED OFFERING OF ANTIQUE SAMPLERS AND NEEDLEWORK
est. 1947
M. Finkel ~ Daughter. AMERICA'S LEADING ANTIQUE SAMPLER & NEEDLEWORK DEALER
936 Pine Street. Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. 19107-6128 215-627-7797.800-598-7432. fax 215-627-8199 www.samplings.com
Please visit our website: www.samplings.com
both details are from the sampler by Catharine Shimer, 1829 page 3
Copyright Š 2008 by M. Finkel & Daughter, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without the permission in writing from M. Finkel & Daughter, Inc. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Welcome to our Samplings catalogue, Volume XXXIV ...
We hope that you enjoy this catalogue, our 34th issue, and we thank all of you for your continued and growing interest in this field. Schoolgirl samplers and needlework provide fascinating opportunities to collectors. A sampler acts as a window into the specific history of a young girl, her family, a teacher, a town, a region, and a tradition, and as such provides us with unusual insight. It goes without saying that samplers, from a simple marking piece to an elaborate scene, are also extremely visually appealing. Each of our samplers has been fully researched and documented; it is well-known that we both conduct ourselves and have others engage in intensive genealogical research and often achieve important results. When we describe a sampler or silk embroidery, we frequently refer to a number of fine books that have been written in this field. A selected bibliography is included at the end of the catalogue and is updated regularly. If any of these books prove difficult to procure, let us know and perhaps we can assist in locating them. We also include a description page about our conservation methods and encourage you to call us with any questions in this area. This year marks the 6lst anniversary of the founding of our firm. We continue to value our positive relationships with clients, many of whom are now second generation, and strive to maintain our commitment to customer service. Buying antiques should be based in large measure on trust and confidence, and we try to treat each customer as we ourselves like to be treated. We operate by appointment and are at the shop Monday through Friday, and are avaialable on weekends, except when we are exhibiting at antiques shows. Please let us know of your plans to visit us. We suggest that you contact us in a timely fashion if one or more of our samplers is of interest to you. Please let us know if you would like us to email you better photos than appear in this catalogue. The majority of the pieces in the catalogue have not yet appeared on our website so as to give our catalogue subscribers the advantage of having a first look. Should your choice be unavailable, we would be happy to discuss your collecting objectives with you. Our inventory is extensive, and we have many other samplers that are not included in our catalogue but which are on our website. Moreover, through our sources, we may be able to locate what you are looking for; you will find us knowledgeable and helpful. Payment may be made by check, VISA, Mastercard, or American Express. Pennsylvania residents should add 6% sales tax. All items are sold with a five day return privilege. Expert packing is included: shipping and insurance costs are extra. We prefer to ship via UPS ground or Federal Express air, insured. We look forward to your phone calls and your interest. Amy Finkel Morris Finkel Jamie Banks www.samplings.com Please check our website for frequent updates
mailbox@samplings.com 800-598-7432
Are you interested in selling? We are constantly purchasing antique samplers and needlework and would like to know what you have for sale. We can purchase outright or act as your agent. Photographs sent to us will receive our prompt attention. Call us for more information.
AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF CONTENTS Mary Abel, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1820 ...................................... 9 Mary Belden, Burlington, Connecticut, 1835 ............................................ 29 Elizabeth Biegler, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1808 ........................................ 6 Eleanor Brown, Plain Sewing Apron, England, 1882 ...................................... 28 Buttonhole Sampler, Initialed ACS, Germany, 1781. ...................................... 19 Mary Cadwallader, Philadelphia area, Pennsylvania, 1836 .................................. 19 Paula Castanaza, Spain or Colonial Spain, circa 1840 ..................................... 31 Darning Sampler, Initialed MEDV, Netherlands, 1804 ..................................... 15. Mary Ann Egee, Pennsylvania or New Jersey, 1830 ........................................22 German Motif Sampler, Initialed BD, 1690 .............................................. 11 Mercy Gillow, St. Nicholas at Wade, Kent, England, 1769 .................................. 11 Lucinda A. Hatch, Granger, Medina County, Ohio, 1839 ................................... 21 Keziah A. Hilliard, Burlington County, New Jersey, 1836 ................................... 5 Mary Ann Hoch, Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1832 .................... 26 Mary How, School of Fanny Dow, Methuen, Massachusetts, 1816 ........................... 17 Emily Knox, York county, Maine, 1826 ................................................. 23 Huldah M. LaRue, Polkville, Warren County, New Jersey, 1854 ............... ... ........... 28 Phebe Lucas, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, 1782 ................ .. .................... 18 Specimens of Needlework, Letitia Mercer, Derry lee School, Northern Ireland, 1863 ........ ... 24 Mary Owen, Misses Martin's School, Portland, Maine, 1815 ............................ ..... 7 Pitfield Sisters' Samplers, New Brunswick, Canada, 1833 & 1834 ........................... 20 Decorated Hanging Pocket made for James Mennem, Pennsylvania, 1824 ................... 27 Charlotte Reed, Milton, Massachusetts, 1813 ............................................ .14 Kezia Ridgway, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or Salem County, New Jersey, 1800 ............... 25 Schoolgirl Box, Mary M. Rumrill of Ashby, MA, Bradford Academy, Bradford, MA ............. 16 Martha Ryan, Apple Tree Family Register, Sharon, New Hampshire, c. 1820 .................. . 1 Catharine Shimer, Mary Ralston School, Easton, PA, 1829 .................................. 2 Harriet Stevens, Celebrating Gen. Lafayette's Visit, Kennebunk, Maine, 1825 .................. 8 Mahala Tarr, Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1831 .................... . ..... ...... .............4 Sarah '!Yson, Skippack, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1840 .......................... 30 Dolly Warriner Silk Embroidery, Mary Balch School, Providence, RI, c.l810 ................. 12 Ann Webster, England, circa 1815 ........ . .. . .... . ................................... . 27 Mary Wing, Braceby, Lincolnshire, England, 1845 ........................................ 14
detail of sampler by Elizabeth Biegler, 1808, page 6
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Martha Ryan, Apple Tree Family Register, Sharon, New Hampshire, circa 1820
It is a privilege to offer this extraordinary sampler which is both rare and visually arresting. Working within the genre of the Apple Tree Family Record samplers which has been well documented, Martha Ryan created a sampler that is folky yet sophisticated, presenting a pair of trees that represent the two marriages of her mother, Patty Wyman (b. 1771) who married Josiah Sawyer and, following his death, Dr. Samuel Ryan. The family resided in Sharon, New Hampshire, a small town near the Massachusetts border. Outstanding needlework forms the trees, lawn and extravagant borders, and ten carefully lettered pen and ink inscriptions on paper present the family information; this combination of needlework and paper inscription is unique within this important group of samplers.
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Martha Ryan, Apple Tree Family Register, Sharon, New Hampshire, circa 1820 (continued) The two separate but intertwined trees, with distinctly colored leaves, have inscriptions at their bases that designate the two unions. Characteristic of the Apple Tree Family Record samplers, the name and birth date of each child appear inside an apple, with the fallen apple on the lawn at the right representing a deceased child. Martha, represented by the apple at the far right, was born on June 1st, 1806, the second child of the union of Dr. Samuel and Patty Ryan. Dr. Ryan was a surgeon who served twice as town clerk of Sharon and held other civic offices. His father, Dr. Daniel Ryan, had emigrated from Ireland circa 1750 and settled in Massachusetts, subsequently removing to Sharon, New Hampshire in 1790. Early published genealogies of the area provide extensive information regarding this family, as Martha's father, and then her brother, were highly successful and prominent mill owners. Sliptown: The History of Sharon, New Hampshire 1738 - 1941 by H. Thorn King, Jr. indicates that the Ryan family mill was in operation as early as 1795. The following description of this family appears on page 130, "Life in Sliptown is quite uniformly homespun but in the Ryan family one catches glimpses of perhaps more of its amenities. Heirlooms of glass, furniture, and fine linens bespeak a comfortable means of livelihood beyond that of the average farmer's there. It is probable that with the additional means of income which practicing medicine and running a mill afforded went a more gracious way of living." Interestingly, a sampler made by Martha's older sister, Abigail Ryan, in 1816, is illustrated in this book (figure 43). While very pleasant, it is much more simple than Martha's needlework. Quite remarkably, another record of the same Ryan - Sawyer family is known, a watercolor on paper Apple Tree Family Record that was in the important folk art collection of Edgar and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch (sold at Sotheby's in November, 1974). This was documented by Peter Benes in his article "Decorated Family Records from Coastal Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut" (Families and Children: The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife, 1985). It seems likely that it was drawn and painted by one of Martha's siblings. In 1828, Martha married John Adams Prescott of nearby Jaffrey, New Hampshire. He was a businessman, justice of the peace, County Commissioner and captain of the Jaffrey Rifle Company. They remained in Jaffrey and had two children; only their daughter, Martha, lived to adulthood. The sampler was worked in silk, with pen and ink on paper, on fine linen gauze and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a mahogany frame. Provenance:
Clark and Mary Garrett Collection, Ohio William Samaha Collection, Ohio
Sampler size: 17" x 16%" Price: $55,000.
Catharine Shimer, Mary Ralston School, Easton, PA, 1829 The extraordinary samplers made by schoolgirls under the instruction of Mary Ralston of Easton, Pennsylvania depict strong buildings in landscape settings surrounded by rich, wide borders formed of a fine assortment of lush flowers and shaded leaves. Ralston school samplers are highly recognizable; they share a spacious quality which renders them more like folk paintings than schoolgirl samplers. Another characteristic is the extremely fine and tight workmanship executed in a deeply colored palette. One of the earliest known Ralston school examples was made in 1829 by Catharine Shimer and it is a privilege to offer this highly significant and very appealing sampler. In vol II of Girlhood Embroidery, Betty Ring writes of this group in a section entitled "Samplers of the Lehigh Valley, Easton Samplers and Mary Ralston's School." Catharine Shimer's sampler is illustrated as figure 506, on page 452; the two other samplers that are illustrated are in collections of historical societies.
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Catharine Shimer, Mary Ralston School, Easton, PA, 1829 (cont.)
Born in 1815, Catharine was the daughter of a farmer and miller from Easton, Abraham Shimer, and his ,'ife Elizabeth (Leidy) Shimer. It is worth noting that Catharine included a depiction of a mill house on her sampler and this is the only sampler from this group to do so. A Pennsylvania German family, the Shimers originated with Jacob Shimer I Scheimer (1734 - 1764) who emigrated to America. Catharine married a farmer, John S. Oberly, and they remained in Northampton County, Pennsylvania where they had six children . . luch is known about Mrs. Mary Ralston (1772-1850) as well, due in large part to Betty Ring's research. Born in Philadelphia, Mary (Endress) Ralston began teaching in Easton, north of Philadelphia, after she became a widow. By 1812, Mrs. Ralston established a private girls' school in her home and early in 1829, the year that Catharine Shimer made this sampler, bought a fine brick house on Spring Garden Street from ,•hich she conducted her school for several years. The sampler is worked in wool, silk and cotton on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a cherry and maple cornerblock frame. ampler size: 16W' x 17%"
Price: $42,000.
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M. Finkel S Daughter.
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Mahala Tarr, Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1831 1\vo fashionably dressed ladies provide the focal point for this remarkable 1831 sampler made by Mahala Tarr of Gloucester, Massachusetts. They wear pale blue silk dresses with the puffed sleeves that became popular by 1825 and which, according to Linda Baumgarten in her extraordinary book, What Clothes
Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America (Colonial Williamsburg, 2002), became huge by 1830. Gloucester, a delightful maritime community on the northern cape of Massachusetts Bay, was known even in the early 19th century as a summer retreat for Bostonians; it is not surprising that a Gloucester schoolgirl would have depicted such stylish attire on her work. Other details were included: the dresses have sashes at the waist and banded hemlines. The ladies sport ruffled bonnets, stand on low platforms and hold flowering branches.
(detail)
Born on July 3, 1820, Mahala was third of the seven children born to Francis and Hannah (Knights) Tarr who had married in Gloucester in 1815. The roots of the Tarr family go back to 1690, when Richard Tarr became the first permanent settler of Rockport. Tarr family members were active in civic affairs of the town for many generations; specifically, for example, Benjamin Tarr drilled the Sandy Bay Soldiers who marched in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Much has been written about this family and their history in Rockport and Gloucester. Mahala died young, at age 18, and is buried in Gloucester. The sampler, worked in silk on tan linen, is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany veneer frame. Sampler size: 16W' x 13" Price: $8400.
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Keziah A. Hilliard, Burlington County, New Jersey, 1836
The house and lawn samplers of Burlington County, New Jersey are very well known to collectors, curators and scholars in this field. These samplers feature large, architecturally detailed houses, bold trees, folky birds and animals, along with motifs that bear strong influence from the many fine Quaker schools in the area. Overall these samplers are amongst the most inventive and appealing of American samplers. This is an excellent and newly discovered example, signed, "Keziah A. Hilliard's work in the 12 year of her age 1836." A house in three-quarter view has vines growing up one side and a large bird on its roof. The lawn is dominated by a large-handled urn of flowers and queen-stitched strawberries flanked by little curlytailed dogs and, further downhill, a pair of birds. The inscription is contained by a narrow edging that was designed to conveniently accommodate the uppermost leaf of the flower arrangement. Born in 1825, Keziah was the daughter of a farmer, Samuel, and Mary (Atkinson) Hilliard who lived in orthampton Township, Burlington County where these families had been for generations. Keziah married Mark Conrow, who owned a successful hotel in the area and by 1850 they had three sons. The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is in overall excellent condition; it has been conservation mounted and is in a maple and cherry cornerblock frame. Sampler size: 16%" x 17%"
Price: $8800.
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M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
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Elizabeth Biegler, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1808
This splendid house and lawn sampler with excellent borders belongs to a group worked in the late 1700s through the early 1800s from Philadelphia. Betty Ring discusses this group in Girlhood Embroidery, vol. II; and we are pleased to have discovered this example, which offers a slightly folkier version than some. Worked by Elizabeth Biegler in 1808, it features a house atop a raised lawn flanked by pine trees with a recumbent stag nearby, a motif found on other Philadelphia samplers. Additional animals that appear on the sampler are a spotted dog, peacock, lion and squirrel. The house is shown in side view with the roof and chimney outlined in robin's egg blue; further details include the front steps and the mullions that delineate the windows. Above and to the right of the house, Elizabeth worked a lovely basket with a twisted handle and filled it with three fat strawberries. Excellent borders, notably those of oversized tulips at the top and bottom have their precedent in the bands and borders that decorated Philadelphia samplers throughout the 18th century. The verse, written by Nathaniel Cotton (1707-1788), an English physician and poet, reads: "But dear girl both flow'rs and beauty I Blossom fade and die away I Then Pursue good sens and duty I Evergreens which ne'er decay." It was likely published in England but distributed in the United States, as well. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in very good condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame with inlay. Sampler size: 18" x 17W'
Price: $8200.
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_ ary Owen, Misses Martin's School, Portland, Maine, 1815 e pictorial samplers produced in Portland in the early 19th century form one of the most important and ~ing of all of the groups of American needlework. These samplers feature solidly worked scenes of ion houses and smaller buildings and have pleasing verses and alphabets above, all surrounded by ,.. minent borders of large rose-blossoms on leafy vines. They have been the subject of research and Titing by Betty Ring and other scholars, and examples are included in many major public and private ollections. Mary Owen, a 12-year-old attending the highly regarded Misses Martin's in Portland in 1815, rked this tightly composed and executed sampler which has been considered to be one of the important Portland pieces for many years; it was in the Joan Stephens Collection and was researched by Betty Ring as .: h This collection was sold at Sotheby's in January of 1997 and this sale is considered to be an important nchmark in establishing both interest in, and values of, schoolgirl samplers. _e ~lisses Martin School, located at the comer of King and Newbury Streets, flourished from 1804 until and much information about the school was published during that period or later in the 19th century. . ·-t of the young ladies o attended the school, ·ther as boarders or day ents, was made ~ -ailable by the three . lartin sisters and Mary .\·en is listed as a day ent. Born October 12, Mary was the ::aughter of Joseph and Sarah (Thomes) Owen; :~ ording to the accounts :the school, she had by 1829. Another sampler that ~sa very close relationship is that of .·lary Ann Morton which .:as made in 1820. It was the Theodore Kapnek oUection and published figure 81 in A Gallery
of American Samplers : Glee Krueger. The . lary Owen sampler was
.·.-orked in silk on tan linen and is in excellent -ondition. It has been onservation mounted and is in a fine 19th entury gold leaf frame. Sampler size: 161ft x 11" Price: $26,000.
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M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
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Harriet Stevens, Celebrating Gen. Lafayette's Visit, Kennebunk, Maine, 1825 Very few samplers transcend typical schoolgirl work and commemorate important national events that affected the lives of their makers. Harriet Stevens, an eight-year-old living in the small coastal town of Kennebunk, Maine, worked her sampler to document and celebrate the historic visit of General Lafayette. By invitation of President Monroe and to great patriotic reception, Lafayette toured the United States for 16 months during 1824 and 1825. The visit to Kennebunk lasted an afternoon, during which Gen. Lafayette was feted by the townspeople. The 1829 published account of this trip, Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825 by A. Levasseur, Secretary to General Lafayette During His Journey, indicates that the General and those with whom he traveled visited this town of about 2500 inhabitants on June 24, 1825. They were greeted by the sound of bells and artillery. The General was seated "on a chair elegantly decorated with flowers by the ladies of the town" and he was the subject of many toasts. He responded with his own tribute: "The village of Kennebunk, on the site of which the first tree was felled on the day in which the first gun was fired at Lexington, the signal of American and universal liberty! May that glorious date always be a pledge of the republican prosperity and increasing happiness of Kennebunk." It is certainly not surprising that this important day served as inspiration to a young schoolgirl. By late that afternoon, the group traveled on to Saco, stayed overnight and then journeyed to Portland. The trip culminated with a 50th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston. Harriet was born on July 18, 1817, the eldest daughter of a silversmith and jeweler, Phineas Stevens, and his wife Hannah Fairfield Stevens. Advertisements placed by Phineas Stevens in the Kennebunkport weekly paper indicate that he sold watches and clocks in addition to the wares he manufactured; he remained in business until at least 1850 in Kennebunk. Harriet finished her sampler four months after Lafayette's visit, on October 26, 1825. She included various alphabets and surrounded the centered inscription with a vine of strawberries and leaves which is echoed by the side borders. The sampler was worked in linen on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and black painted frame. Sampler size: 12lfz'' x 16lfz''
Price: $6800.
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_lary Abel, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1820 small group of highly sophisticated and very beautiful samplers was made in Montgomery County, rthwest of Philadelphia between 1817 and 1829. This newly discovered sampler, made by Mary Abel in 0 is the largest and most well-developed of these known samplers, with strong composition and mplary needlework throughout. The characteristics that distinguish these samplers include the lustrous ·'TI of long Satin stitches with clover and various flowers imbedded within the grass, the pair of WillOW ces as well as the pair of pine trees, a central two-handled vase of flowers, a choice of verses including the ;u that were meticulously inscribed onto this sampler and complex borders of trumpeting lilies and leaves. _'ames and dates generally appear in a sawtooth edged compartment and delicate vines of berries and buds ound the poems. e samplers were all made by girls and young women who came from Upper or Lower Providence . nships of Montgomery County and indicate that an instructress of extraordinary talents was working in t area. It is possible that Mary Abel, who was 31 years old and unmarried in 1820, was indeed this ·ea her. arnily information that accompanied the sampler indicates that Mary married Jesse Conway. This led to identification of Mary and to much information regarding the family. Born in nearby Chester County, ; was the daughter of William Abel, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The family ultimately :: 'tied in Upper Providence Township and in 1828, Mary married, as his second wife, a widower, Jesse - m,·ay; evidence points to the fact that his first wife may have been Mary's older sister. Mary and two (continued on the next page)
etail)
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Mary Abel, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1820 (continued) unmarried sisters, Susan and Wilamina, were strong and independent women indicated by deeds and real estate transactions during their lifetimes as well as the specifics of their wills upon their deaths. Mary, Susan and Wilamina were closely tied to Mary's step-children throughout their lives. In 1873 Mary Abel Conway died and is buried in a Church of the Brethren Cemetery in Upper Providence Township. Her sampler descended in the family for generations. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame. Sampler size: 253/4" x 23"
Price: $24,000.
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Gennan Motif sampler, initialed BD, 1690 most sought after German samplers are - se from the late 17th and early 18th c:1turies. Samplermakers often featured the - pictorial images with strong Baroque uence, that were first designed in wood k by patternmaker Johannes Sibmacher published in model books in Nuremburg 1597 and 1601. The St. Gallen Museum by Anne Wanner-Jean Richards, Muster
d Zeichen (Patterns and Motifs) trates several of these samplers from their ection, as figures 36 and 37, dated 1688 1 28. We have recently discovered another ... -ellent example, in remarkably fresh ndition, dated 1690 and initialed BD. e notable Sibmacher motifs are the rominent peacock, reclining stag and med swan. Other early German patterns · lude the symbolic crucifixion, the potted ITuiting trees and the flowers in vases. This 5a.ITipler is finished with a buttonhole stitch on ides, a regional characteristic of samplers de in Nuremburg. Worked in silk on linen, sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine early 19th century ·ed and gold leaf frame. Sampler size: 151h" x 11 W' Price: $4800.
. 1ercy Gillow, St. Nicholas at Wade, Kent, England, 1769 · highly appealing sampler was made by Mercy Gillow, a twelve-year-old living in a small coastal village : utheast of London. St. Nicholas at Wade, with its Norman church dating from the 13th century, is the an estral home of the Gillow family, with roots -nat are documented from the 16th century. .·lercy was born there in 1757, a daughter of omas and Ann Gillow and named for her temal grandmother, Mercy Eason Gillow 1706-1746). e sampler features a biblical verse in both French and English and is sophisticated as well as charming, as Mercy surrounded her · cription with an unusual sawtooth heart anked by squirrels and oak trees. The palette o- predominantly light green and pink is one rarely found on samplers and the needlework ·as skillfully accomplished. The sampler was ·orked in silk on wool and is in excellent ondition. It has been conservation mounted into the 19th century gold-leaf frame that has been with it for many years. Sampler size: 13" x 11" Price: $4400.
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M. Finkel as Daughter.
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Dolly Warriner Silk Embroidery, Mary Balch School, Providence, Rhode Island, circa 1810 An outstanding group of silk embroidered memorials was made at Mary Balch's renowned school in Providence, Rhode Island. Examples were included in the groundbreaking and scholarly exhibition at The Rhode Island Historical Society in 1983 entitled Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee: Needlework in the Education of Rhode Island Women 1730 - 1830, and are published in the book by the same title by curator Betty Ring. Writing specifically about the silk embroidered memorials from this school, Mrs. Ring states that these ambitious embroideries are identified by their shimmering willow trees, marbleized monuments with blended shading and the extremely fine black silk lettering used for the epitaphs.
This is an outstanding and large embroidery with extremely fine needlework and a composition that includes the characteristics that best represent the Balch School memorials. These specific marble monuments, a large, graceful willow and a neoclassical column in ruins dominate the setting, with abundant foliage in the foreground and a painted sky forming the background. Three members of the Warriner family are honored on the monuments, Deacon Noah Warriner, his wife, Mrs. Mary Warriner (born Mary Ainsworth of Providence, Rhode Island in 1751) and one of their children, Mary Warriner. The maker was Dolly Warriner, born July 6, 1793, a younger sister of Mary. Dolly married in 1813 and must have attended the Balch School as a boarding student prior to her marriage. Her mother's ties to Providence would have likely contributed to this choice of school. In Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee, Mrs. Ring writes, "Names were customarily painted on the glass mats, and the identity of the maker was often lost when the glass was broken." Indeed the original glass mat, inscribed D. Warriner, had broken but did remain with this embroidery, and a faithful reproduction of this reverse painted gold leaf and black paint mat has been made. Deacon Noah Warriner was born in 1748 in Wilbraham, now part of Springfield, Massachusetts. He was a sergeant in the Revolutionary War and part of a brigade of Minute Men, serving in Roxbury and Lexington. Later he served as Town Clerk of Wilbraham. After his first wife died in 1778, he married Mary Ainsworth and they became the parents of seven children. A published family genealogy, The
Warriner Family of New England Origin, by Rev. Edwin Warriner, 1899, contains much information about the family of Deacon Noah Warriner. The entire tragic narrative of the death of young Mary Warriner in 1799 at age 15 years and 9 months is included; she drowned during a sailing expedition on the local pond along with five young friends.
(detail)
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Dolly Warriner Silk Embroidery, Mary Balch School, Providence, Rhode Island, circa 1810 (continued)
needleworker, Dolly, married Col. Warren Lincoln, also of Wilbraham. They continued to reside there "" became the parents of four children, William, Albert, Charlotte and Maria. The Warriner genealogy -es that this Lincoln family is "one of the most influential in the nation" the same family as that of _ -ident Abraham Lincoln, however this information has not been confirmed. Their eldest, William coin was a noted business man in western Massachusetts whose wife was related to John Quincy Adams other men who figured prominently in the history of this country. _ inked inscription was written onto the silk in the space provided, after the death of Mary Warriner in 331 at age 79 years and 6 months. : ¡- in excellent condition and it is in a 19th century gold leaf frame.
¡ t size: 17" x 21 W' Frame size: 23" x 28W' Price: $18,500.
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Charlotte Reed, Milton, Massachusetts, 1813 A delightful sampler, this was made by fourteen-year-old Charlotte Reed in Milton, Massachusetts, a town just south of Boston. It features a lengthy poem that addresses the maker directly and uses the sampler as a metaphor for the actions that should guide one's behavior in life, "So my sweet girl the path of life survey I And tread with caution o'er the devious way." 1\vo lines later Charlotte is cautioned by name. Avine of teal green buds and leaves embellishes the lettering with two of the buds at the lower right corner remaining unfinished. Born on February 26, 1799, Charlotte was the daughter of a shoemaker, Noah Reed, and his wife Mehitable (Wild) Reed. The family lived initially in Weymouth and removed to Milton circa 1796. In 1829, Charlotte married a farmer, Jesse Wadsworth, who was part of an old Milton family. In her later years, Charlotte was a widow, living on the old family homestead with her sister Rachel. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a cherry frame with maple beads. Sampler size: 12%" x 12" Price: $3800.
Mary Wing, Braceby, Lincolnshire, England, 1845 This small and very charming sampler, made by Mary Wing of Braceby, features a fine threechimney house on a hill, a pair of stately pine trees and a geometric star. Small birds, tiny hearts and flowering plants provide further embellishment and the overall effect is excellent. Braceby is a tiny village in Lincolnshire, which according to the 1841 census had a population of 155 people in 33 houses; the inhabitants included a blacksmith, a carpenter, a shopkeeper and a schoolmistress. It is likely that it was under the instruction of this teacher that Mary worked her sampler. The sampler is worked in silk on wool and is in excellent condition, conservation mounted into its original beveled rosewood frame with a gilt liner. Sampler size: 101/4" x 8W' Framed size: 141J2'' x 12%" Price: $2850.
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Darning Sampler, initialed MEDV, Netherlands, 1804
Pamela A. Parmel of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, writes the following concise history and description o 路darning samplers, in her book, Samplers from A to Z, in regard to the Museum's 1813 Dutch darning sampler illustrated on page 18. "Darning, which involved interweaving new threads into the warp and weft fa cloth to patch holes and tears, was an important skill for a household embroiderer to acquire .... Darning samplers first became popular in Northern Europe during the early eighteenth century, and then _ read to Great Britain and the United Sates. Darning samplers usually included several repairs. Squares .路:ere cut out of the ground material and each darned in different weave structure. One of the signs of a ~ darn was maintaining a similar tension between the inserted yarns and the original warp and weft so :::!..: not to create buckling or pulling."
. 路e have long been great fans of this type of sampler and offer this praiseworthy example, dated 1804. The year-old maker, whose initials were MEDV, meticulously recreated eight different weave structures, .:: 路 g in the large squares that her teacher would have cut out. She also "repaired" four corner tears, the one in the upper left corner in the more challenging white-on-white palette. Four long tears that framed e center square were darned together using highly complex patterns and shifting colors. Indeed it would - em as if the only easy task this sampler afforded its maker were the four decorative flowers in the corners o: the center square. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. Conservation mounted, it is in a olded and painted frame. Sampler size: 20%" x 19lfz'' Price: $5800.
AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
- - - - - -
16
Schoolgirl Box with Transfer Decorntion made by Mary M. Rumrill of Ashby, Massachusetts, at the Brndford Academy, Brndford, Massachusetts, 1828
The Bradford Academy was established in 1803 in this town on the Merrimack River, approximately 28 miles north of Boston. A detailed account of the school, published upon the 50th anniversary of its founding, includes enrollment records which list Mary M. Rumrill of Ashby as a student who entered the school in 1827. While there, she made this most unusual and interesting decorated box using a type of transfer work applied to ochre paint. In addition to the anniversary publication, we are fortunate to have a copy of a November 1827 broadside, which displays the precise decorative border featured on Mary's box. The printer of this border, and likely the many other varied genre scenes, eagles, objects, poems and exotic animals, was the office of the Gazette and Patriot, the newspaper in Haverhill, a town connected to Bradford by a long bridge. While we must assume that other boxes similar to this were made at many early 19th century academies and schools, this is the only example that we have known. The specifics of the transfer process are detailed in period almanacs, and acknowledge that writing may appear "in a reversed order and direction" if care is not taken to apply the finished product of the transfer properly. Indeed all of the writing, including the name and town of the maker, appear backwards. The interior of the lids is lined with carefully cut-out poems from newspapers dated 1828.
Born in 1808, Mary Myrick Rumrill was the daughter of John and Polly Rumrill of Ashby. She attended the Bradford Academy when she was 20 years old, and at age 27, married Abel Patten of Billerica Massachusetts, a graduate of the Boston Latin School, Dartmouth College and Andover Theological Seminary. Rev. Patten preached in various towns and they settled in Marlboro, Vermont. They became the parents of six children and Mary died in 1861. The box is in excellent condition, with its original hinges, lock, bale handle and diamond-shaped bone escutcheon. The interior is compartmented and lined with dark red fabric. It measures 15" wide by 10" deep and is 5" high.
Price: $4400.
M. Finkel ~ Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
.lary How, school of Fanny Dow, Methuen, Massachusetts, 1816 e unusually informative inscription along the bottom of this large sampler reads, "Mary How was born .larch 18th 1804 and in the summer of 1816, I worked this sampler while under the tuition of Miss Fanny v 18th of August 1816." This instructress is not one previously recorded by scholars in this field but was, . ·te clearly, a teacher of considerable talent. - · a particularly pleasing sampler, designed in a horizontal format which was just becoming popular .- !lowing decades of vertical or square shapes dominating sampler design. Elaborate needlework forms the rders and showcases the maker's accomplishments. These fanciful flower blossoms, sprigs of berries, - licate side borders, and buds and the leaves punctuated by surrounds of French knots along the lower rder offer an interesting combination of sophistication and lively naivete. Notable as well is the drawnwork ~ni hed in pale blue silk at the outer edges of the sampler. : seems that the samplermaker's initial intent was to feature only the boldly worked alphabets and the ular verse which begins with "Jesus permit they gracious name to stand I As the first efforts of an infant d. Additional space on either side of the verse allowed for more needlework, and Mary filled that as well. unusual cartouche surrounds the aphorism, "The Lord is good and his tender mercies are all over his :orks " and Mary recorded specifics regarding the ages and births of family members on the other side. Mary's father was Joseph How (1760-1829) whose activities in the Revolutionary War are described in the Howe Genealogies by Daniel Wait Howe, published in 1929. He served in the Battle of Saratoga and was one of the guards of the Hessian prisoners at Cambridge. After settling onto the family homestead, he became a farmer who was prominent in town affairs. Following the death of his first wife and mother of his eldest daughter, Jemima, he married Lydia Easton of nearby Haverhill. The ages of Joseph and Lydia are recorded on this sampler, "J · L How ad (sic) 56 & 57 in 1816," as the first line of the family information, followed by the births of . mirna, Christopher, Frederic, Phineas, Joseph and, lastly, Mary, in 1804. In 1843 she married Capt. Jesse -mith of Haverhill, as his second wife. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has en conservation mounted into a bird's-eye maple frame. pier size: 16%" x 2PN'
Price: $6000.
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AMERICA'S LEADING SAMPLER AND NEEDLEWORK DEALER
M. Finkel as Daughter.
17
18
Phebe Lucas, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, 1782
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As the 18th century progressed, English schoolgirls, who were educated at the upper end of the spectrum,
worked extremely fine samplers that were often filled with lengthy letter-perfect verse. Surrounded by borders formed of flowering vines with ribbons and bows, these samplers are amongst the most beautifully made of all English samplers. The Quaker influence to the lettering of Phebe Lucas's sampler is confirmed by genealogical research that accompanies it. A hand written note on the verso of the frame (see below) states that Phebe Lucas married Samuel Allen in 1803 and we have uncovered a great amount of information about this family. Phebe was born 1769, the daughter of a brewer, William Lucas, and his wife Sarah Redman, Quakers who resided in the village of Hitchin and were active and contributing members of the Hertfordshire Quarterly Meeting. She made this sampler at age of 13 and at age 33 married Samuel Allen, a brewer and miller. They had five sons, and Phebe became a Quaker minister. She died in 1856 and her obituary in a Quaker publication indicated that she was deeply beloved and respected within the community. The poem that Phebe chose to stitch is entitled "On the fall of the Leaf," 10 verses written by the Bishop of Norwich, Dr. George Home (1730-1792). It begins with a quotation from Isaiah 64:4, 'We do all fade as a leaf." The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a maple frame. Sampler size: 16%" x 14lf4'' Price: $4800.
M. Finkel ~ Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
19
1ary Cadwallader, Philadelphia area, Pennsylvania, 1836 The Cadwallader family of Philadelphia, beginning with John Cadwallader who emigrated from Wales in 1697, · one of the most distinguished families in the early hi tory of America. Children, grandchildren and great grandchildren were prominent citizens of Quaker Philadelphia, contributing greatly to the life of the city. adwalladers founded libraries, hospitals and learned societies and were elected or appointed to the city ouncil, the state assembly, the Continental Congress, - e Constitutional Convention and the Supreme Court f Pennsylvania. hile the specific identity of this samplermaker within • e Cadwallader family cannot be discerned, the Quaker affiliation of the maker and her sampler are clear. .·[ary's flowers, birds and baskets plus two of the phabets that she included have their origins in classic Quaker sampler design. The two-line rhyming · cription, ''Will the labour of this page I Yield me ~omfort in old age," is one that we have not seen on a sampler previously and one which holds great appeal. It interesting to note the use of the word "page" to · dicate the linen; expresses the thought that samplers .\·ere part of a literary tradition. The sampler was .,·orked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It been conservation mounted and is in a black molded and painted frame.
Sampler size: 181/4" x lOW'
Price: $3200.
Buttonhole Sampler, initialed ACS, Germany, 1781 This is an exquisite little sampler that demonstrates the fine art of making buttonholes, which, along with darning, was one of the more practical skills taught to samplermakers. While the point of the exercise is the ten buttonholes, the redwork devices that decorate the center of the sampler vertically and form the border are outstanding as well. The crowned swans, the leaping deer and the potted plants all have their origins in German embroidery pattern books that preceded this sampler by centuries. The redwork was accomplished in almost impossibly tight cross-stitches. Note the four very fine, subtle white needlework lines that run vertically on the sampler as well. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition with some very minor weakness; it has been conservation mounted into an early gold leaf frame. Sampler size: 9" x 51fz'' AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Price: $5500.
M. FinkeJ6j Daughter.
20
Pitfield Sisters Samplers, New Brunswick, Canada, 1833 & 1834 The family history of Charlotte and Maria Pitfield echoes the story of a great number of families who removed to Canada during and at the end of the American War of Independence. Of these approximately 40,000 Loyalists, some 32,000 fled from New York in fleets of ships organized by the commander of the British forces in November of 1783, two months after independence had been granted to the colonies. This population settled in Nova Scotia and within a year a new province was created, carved out of Nova Scotia; thus New Brunswick was established. George Pitfield (1749-1827), grandfather of the two sisters, was amongst those petitioning for land in 1784. As best can be determined, the family had come from New Jersey. A son of George Pitfield, George Jr. was born in New Brunswick and became a postmaster, telegraph operator and hotel keeper. He married Eleanor Ryan, and they had ten children. Charlotte was born circa 1819 and Maria Jane circa 1821. Charlotte made her sampler in 1833 when the family was living in Sussex, a town in Kings County. Maria made her sampler one year later in Salisbury, Westmorland County. Clearly the samplers are very closely related, from their overall composition to the phrasing and borders. Both sisters married and further information about their later lives is available. Welldocumented Canadian samplers are unusual and it is a rare circumstance that sister samplers remain together. The samplers are each worked in silk on linen and are in overall excellent condition with some very minor loss. They have been conservation mounted and are in black molded and painted frames. Sampler sizes: Charlotte 16%" x 17%" Maria 181/4" x 17" Price for the pair: $6400.
M. Finkel ~ Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Lucinda A. Hatch, Granger, Medina County, Ohio, 1839
Ohio samplers have been the subject of scholarly research by the late Sue Studebaker, who curated the highly regarded exhibition, Ohio Is My Dwelling Place: Schoolgirl Samplers 1800 - 1850, which ''as presented by the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, in 2003. Mrs. Studebaker's excellent book of the same title has set the standard for studies of the samplers of other states. This praiseworthy sampler, made by Lucinda A. Hatch in 1839, was included in this exhibition and appears as figure 213 in the book. It was the only known sampler or silk embroidery from Medina County, in the northwest part of the state. _ledina County was established in 1818, part of the Western Reserve, the large area of Ohio adjacent to Connecticut's western border. According to the description by Mrs. Studebaker in her book, this land was a \ ast and dense forest that required enormous efforts to clear, but became fertile farmland when cleared. This pioneer life was very difficult, but after the Ohio and Erie Canal was fully operational in 1832, the fortunes of these farming families began to rise. Lucinda's sampler has long been recognized as an important part of the material culture of Medina County; indeed a small brochure and calendar of events published by the Medina County Historical Society in 1954 features this sampler on its cover. The depiction on the sampler is thought to be that of the Hatch family home, which was located on Stony Hill Road in Granger and stood until circa 1970. _ athan Hatch (1769 - 1850), Lucinda's grandfather, resided in Connecticut and later removed to the \ estern Reserve in Ohio, settling in Granger Township, Medina County, Ohio. Hiram and Amanda (Warner) Hatch, Lucinda's parents were prominent amongst the early settlers of Granger. Lucinda was the first of their six children, born in 1823. She married Charles Williamson and they removed to Copley County, Ohio where they had one child, a daughter Amanda, born in 1847. Lucinda died in 1851 and she is buried in Granger. The 1860 census indicates that her daughter Amanda was living in Granger with her maternal grandfather, Hiram Hatch, and his second wife, Jerusha Carrington. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine maple frame. Sampler size: 131/z" x 171/4" Price: $11,500.
AMERicA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
21
22
Mary Ann Egee, Pennsylvania or New Jersey, 1830
This splendid large pictorial sampler features a double-chimney brick house flanked by curly-tailed dogs on a deep green lawn. Large baskets and a pair of stately pine trees provide further decoration to the scene. A praiseworthy assortment of motifs, many of them well-known from Quaker sampler design, appear in an airy composition throughout the rest of the sampler. Notable amongst these are the branches of flowers, small cornucopias with flowers, baskets of fruit, many birds and butterflies and an urn with pendulous acorns. The cartouche that contains the name and date, as well as the pair of birds on a stylized branch below, are also found on many area Quaker samplers made from 1800 forth. This sampler was made in southeastern Pennsylvania or nearby New Jersey, where this composition and these elements predominate. The words of the four line poem run together charmingly, eschewing looks and wealth in favor of wisdom. Mary Ann used a technique rarely found on schoolgirl embroidery, an applique of metallic thread tambour needlework which forms the flower at the top of the little arrangement coming out of the urn at the upper right. Additionally, her border, a tightly designed and executed strawberry on vine composition, makes use of the technically challenging queen's-stitch, another indication of Mary Ann's expertise. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in its original mahogany frame. Sampler size: 17" x 22"
Price: $7400.
M. Finkel ~ Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
23
Emily Knox, York County, Maine, 1826 This is an outstanding and aesthetically pleasing Family Record sampler, with the vital statistics worked within a framework formed by a highly creative flowering plant. The stitching indicates a very high level of expertise and was accomplished onto almost impossibly fine linen gauze; clearly both the samplermaker and her teacher were talented needleworkers. Lebanon and Berwick, small towns in southern Maine, were home to the Knox family for many generations. The American branch of the family began with Thomas Knox who emigrated as a young man by 1652 and settled in Dover, New Hampshire. His great great grandson (detail) John Knox served in the Revolutionary War, mustered out of York, Maine and saw active duty at the Battle of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. John's granddaughter, Emily Knox, born October 31, 1814 to John and Sally (Dore) Knox, was the maker of this sampler. Early town records published by the Lebanon Historical Society indicate that Emily's father was an "old-time singing master" and that her mother was from Lebanon and Berwick. Emily was the youngest of their ten children; she worked this sampler at age 12 in 1826 and died quite young, at age 16.
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While family record samplers were made throughout New England, we have not previously seen one of a similar design and execution. Silk threads form the lettering, vines, leaves, berries and flowers and the pair of unusual polychrome leaves beneath the maker's name were worked predominantly using metallic wrapped thread. The sampler is in excellent condition with some very slight loss and it has been conservation mounted into a black molded frame. Sampler size: 19W' X 16" Price: $6200.
AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel OS Daughter.
24
"Specimens of Needlework," Letitia Mercer, Derrylee School, Northern Ireland, 1863
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The Kildare Place Society, with its roots in the Society for Promoting Education of the Poor of Ireland, which was established in 1811, operated thousands of schools throughout the 19th century in Ireland. The curriculum of their Female Model Schools included a specific education in the needle arts, with entire instruction manuals that prescribed a progression of assignments. Students who completed this coursework would occasionally stitch or glue their needlework projects into bound books which likely served as proof of their accomplishments and this large and unusually complete volume is one of the finest known of this type. The book measures 15W' by 10 inches and 26 of its pages are filled with 52 different examples, including piecework, specimens of button-holes, mending and darning in various patterns, four samplers (two are shown here), four miniature frocks and shirts, and many samples of pleating, tucking, knitting, thread work and yarn work. The first page contains a typed inventory of the entire project with information about the school and its precise location in Ireland. The student was Letitia Mercer who attended the Derry lee School in Verner's Bridge, a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Many subsequent pages have their original pencil inscriptions with the number of a class or the name of a pattern. The front and back covers are of pasteboard with marbleized paper on the inside of the covers. A label indicates that this book was sold at Sotheby Parke Bernet in 1938 and another personalized label confirms that it became a part of the famed collection of Helen Janssen Wetzel, of Pennsylvania. Her collection of folk paintings, carvings, furniture and ceramics sold at a landmark sale at Sotheby's in 1980. The book is in overall excellent condition with slight wear. We are happy to provide photos of all of the interior pages. Price: $9000.
M. Finkel ~ Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Kezia Ridgway, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or Salem County, New Jersey, 1800 In 1800 Kezia Ridgway, likely of Salem County, New Jersey, worked this excellent sampler which has long been admired by collectors and researchers in this field. It was part of the important collection belonging to Joan Stephens (see page 7 in this catalogue for the sampler by Mary Owen which was also from the Stephens Collection) and studied by scholar Betty Ring, dear friend and colleague of Joan Stephens. Kezia's sampler is one of six known that share strong specific characteristics and an unusual, highly stylized and elaborate device, which serves as the central focus of the sampler. The other samplers that form this group were made by three of the Groff sisters of Salem County, and were made between 1796 and 1807. Two of these are owned by Betty Ring and published in
American Needlework 'freasures: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection of Betty Ring, figures 60 and 61. Another, made in 1797, by Letisha Groff is in the collection of The Octagon House and the National Society of the Colonial Dames, California Society, and published in a 2007 exhibition catalogue, Stitched Thgether:
Early American Samplers from the Collections of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America & Friends. Yet another of Letisha's samplers, made in 1798, is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The samplermakers each worked with a strong vocabulary of stitches including the long-armed cross stitch, tent stitch and queen's-stitch. The borders on the samplers are, in their own way, as unusual as their central motif. Carefully spaced individual flower blossoms or buds grow from straight-lined frameworks, barely resembling the leafy vines that surround the vast majority of samplers. Kezia Ridgway's identity has been somewhat elusive but she is assumed by Betty Ring to have been the eldest child of Isaac and Kezia (Pedrick) Ridgway, who married in 1789 and were members of the Salem Monthly Meeting. The Groff sisters lived in nearby Woodstown, New Jersey. It is possible that all of these samplers were made when these young ladies were at a boarding school in Philadelphia, as the sophistication of both composition and technique implies. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in very good condition with very minor weakness. It has been conservation mounted and is in a period carved and painted frame. Sampler size: 161/4" x 12" Price: $14,000.
Provenance: Joan Stephens Collection, Maryland Erving and Joyce Wolf Collection, New York
AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. t'inket CJ Daughter.
25
26
Mary Ann Hoch, Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1832 "Nur Die Tugend ist Der Weisen Zicht" which translates to "Only the quality of wisdom counts" is the aphorism inscribed on this rare Pennsylvania German sampler. The maker was Mary Ann Hoch of Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania who was born there in 1819, the daughter of Henry and Susan (Frantz) Hoch.
Both Pennsylvania German and Anglo motifs and treatments were included by Mary Ann; although the overall sampler bears a closer relationship to those made within the Pennsylvania German communities. Typical of that type of sampler, this is without a border, and the bottom register features many motifs arranged in a floating or random fashion. Some of these images have their origins in German samplers from the 17th and 18th centuries: the fruited tree motif, the lady with an open- front gown and the font used for the inscription and one of the uppercase alphabets. Of course designs and motifs were shared, crossing cultures and oceans, as so many samplers document. Mary Ann's sampler is listed in Tandy and Charles Hersh's book, Samplers of the Pennsylvania Germans, the definitive book on this subject. The Hoch family came to America in 1748 when Jacob Hoch, Mary Ann's grandfather, sailed from Rotterdam. A photocopy of his 1789 will, the inventory of his estate and other relevant documents, written in German, accompany the sampler. Mary Ann married Elias Lapp and they had four children. She died in 1889 and, along with her husband, is buried in Lehigh County. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and it is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled frame. Sampler size: 17" x 15W'
Price: $4800.
M. Finkei6J Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Decorated Hanging Pocket made for James Mennem, PA, 1824 Early nineteenth century needleworkers occasionally used their talents to create unusual forms and we offer this pleasing example: a wall pocket embellished with lively and folky flowers, vines of buds and a spiral of sawtoooths edged with wool fringe throughout. 1\vo narrow tape-loomed loops, from which it hung, are visible within this fringe along the upper edge. It seems likely that it was made for (not by) James Mennem and would have been presented to him on June 8th, 1824. A knowledgeable historian pointed out to us that the circular opening in the front piece of the pocket may well indicate that its purpose was to hold a gentleman's pocket watch when the watch was not in use. The maker decorated the back fabric as well so that when the watch wasn't in its pocket, there was a cohesive design throughout. The needlework and materials used most resemble those found on Chester County pieces and we feel that its origin should be attributed to that area. It was worked in crewel wool and silk on tightly woven cotton. It is in very good condition with some minor loss to the wool. We have mounted and framed it in a period paint decorated and beveled frame. The pocket is approximately 8" high and 5" wide, frame size is 13W' x 11 W'. Price: $4850.
Ann Webster, England, circa 1815
Many English samplers, such as this splendid example made by Ann Webster, indicate their maker's great skill in the needle arts. Ann fairly filled her large linen ground with a great assortment of designs and imagery: animals, birds, sailing ships, striped baskets of flowering plants and a meticulously worked moralistic verse. 1\vo horizontal bands offer great interest: a geometric band of diamond-shaped devices embellishes the area beneath the verse and a series of crowns and coronets with their designations (King, Queen, Prince, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Lord Viscount) appear beneath the reindeer and ships. The maker is most likely the Ann Webster, who was christened on March 29, 1800 in Kirkby Fleetham, a very small village in Yorkshire. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a molded and painted frame. Sampler size: 20W' x 17" Price: $2600.
AMERicA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel~ Daughter.
27
28
Huldah M. LaRue, Polkville, Warren County, New Jersey, 1854 Huldah M. LaRue was born in 1825 in the small town of Polkville, near the northwestern corner of New Jersey. In 1854, at age 29 and still a single lady, she worked this delightful depiction of a basket of flowers surrounded by stylish blossoms on stems and branches. This type of needlework picture would have been very much in vogue at that time, as classic schoolgirl samplers with alphabets and poems were declining in popularity and other forms of decorative needlework were on the rise. Most interestingly, Huldah was a professional dressmaker by 1860, when she appears in the census living in Polkville. Her stated occupation then, at age 35, was "mantuamaker" which is the early term for dressmaker. Sometime after 1860 and prior to 1870 Huldah married a farmer and widower, William Mackey, from the nearby town of Oxford. The sampler is worked in wool on linen and remains in excellent condition with very slight loss. It has been conservation mounted into period walnut frame with a gilt inner liner. Sampler size: 181/4" x 17W'
Price: $2800.
Eleanor Brown, Plain Sewing Apron, England, 1882 Well into the late 19th century, many English schoolgirls were expected to become proficient at a variety of dressmaking and plain sewing skills. Young ladies attending the many schools or living in the institutional orphanages of the period turned out a variety of interesting projects that demonstrated their accomplishments. The Fitzwilliam Museum Handbook, Samplers, by Carol Humphrey illustrates one such plain sewing sampler made in 1896, on pages 134 and 135, and Mrs. Humphrey states that, "A gusset, pocket, tucks, pleats, patches, dam, buttonholes and hand-made buttons were usually included. Minutely handstitched seams and hems were often decorated with simple embroidery stitches .... Most samplers of this type are dated, the greatest number falling into the years 1890 -1920." Eleanor Brown, age 14, made this delightful miniature apron which includes tucks, dams, buttonholes and border embroidery. The apron itself measures 9" high and 10" wide in its body. We have stitched it to a mount only along the very top and there is no glass, so that the back of it may be admired as well as the front. The molded walnut frame is of the same period. Framed size: 13" x 15" Price: $875.
M.Finkel ~Daughter. AMERicA'sLEADINGsAMPLERANDNEEDLEwoRKoEALER
Mary Belden, Burlington, Connecticut, 1835
The small town of Burlington, Connecticut, located 17 miles west of Hartford, was home to the family of Isaac and Sophia (Moses) Belden and their ten children. The ancestry of this Moses family is well documented through publications and can be traced back to John Moses who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts in the 1630s. His son removed to Connecticut where this very handsome and large sampler was made almost two centuries later. Samplerrnaker, Mary Porter Belden, was born in 1820, and she worked this sampler in 1835 when she was 14 years old. Alphabets appear along the top of the sampler with an aphorism, "Learning is of more intrinsic value than gold or silver" at the bottom. The birth dates of all family members, from 1794 until 1834, were then carefully stitched. Inside an enclosure Mary presents a monument entitled "In memory of" and included the death dates of two of the siblings as well as that of her mother, who died earlier in the same year the sampler was made. The lengthy inscriptions account for much of the needlework but Mary decorated her sampler with a basket of flowers, two pairs of linked hearts and flower branches as corner elements. In 1848, Mary married a clockmaker, Aseph Fuller, of nearby Bristol, Connecticut and they remained in Bristol. They had two children and their daughter, Mae, followed her father into the clock trade. Mary died in 1887 and her sampler descended in the family for many years. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and remains in its fine original beveled mahogany frame. Sampler size: 231/4" x 17W'
Price: $4800.
AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
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Sarah Tyson, Skippack, Montgomery Co., Pennsylvania, 1840
Cornelius Tyson, born in 1652 in Crefeld on the Rhine, Germany, emigrated to Philadelphia and is patriarch of the Tyson family in America, according to information published in Colonial Families of Philadelphia by John W. Jordan, 1911. A5 was often the case, men would have several occupations and Cornelius was known as a weaver, lawyer and surveyor; he died in 1711 and is buried in one of the earliest burial grounds in Germantown, just outside of Philadelphia. Future generations settled in nearby Skippack, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania where Sarah Tyson, as she inscribed on her sampler, ''was born the 16 day of febuary in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty two." Sarah's father was a tanner and justice of the peace, Benjamin Tyson (1777-1842), her mother was Elizabeth (Ziegler) Tyson and they were members of the Lower Skippack Mennonite Church. Sarah made this splendid sampler when she was 18 years old. She included an assortment of classic Pennsylvania German motifs such as the stylized geometric flowers in baskets, pairs of birds and a table set with a bowl and a pair of pitchers. The com-position centers on a blue edged rectangle and is framed by borders that are paired top and bottom and side to side. A publication of the Historical Society of Montgomery County of Pennsylvania from 1957 documents further information regarding this family. Sarah married Christian Hunsicker some time between the death of her father in 1842 and that of her mother in 1845. Christian Hunsicker, a farmer, was a descendant of Valentine Hunsicker, patriarch of another important Montgomery County family. Sarah and Christian had two children, Catherine and Garrett and they remained on the original Hunsicker family homestead. Sarah died in 1899. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into its outstanding original mahogany frame. Sampler size: 17" x 17W'
Framed size: 24" x 24W'
Price: $4200.
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M. Finkel ai Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
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Paula Casyanaza, Spain or Colonial Spain, circa 1840 In 1998 the Hispanic Society of America, located in New York, held an exhibition entitled "Learning the Art of Embroidery: Nineteenth Century Spanish Samplers." From the earliest sampler in their collection, worked in 1834, to the later examples, it was clear that vivid coloration, highly decorative bands and borders and extremely fine workmanship typify Spanish and Spanish Colonial samplers. We are pleased to offer a large and very handsome sampler made by Paula Casyanaza circa 1840, with many splendid borders (worked in the classic four-sided format) and with its original comer tassels fashioned from the embroidery silks. Four stylized flowering comer devices anchor the center panel which is richly embellished with birds, animals, trees, baskets, crowns, chairs, etc. arranged in a mirror-image format.
This sampler has an unusual and interesting provenance. It was in the Emma-Henriette Schiff von Suvero Collection which included an outstanding group of European and American samplers as well as furniture, ceramics and paintings. After her death in 1924, the collection remained with her family until it was confiscated by the Nazi regime in 1939. It was then given to the Staatliche Kunstgewerbemuseum, Vienna, now known as the Museum fur Angewandte Kunst (MAK). These items were either displayed or stored at the museum (the samplers were unframed) until the spring of 2003 when they were rightfully restituted by the Austrian government to the heirs of Emma-Henriette Schiff von Suvero. Worked in silk on linen, it is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a molded walnut frame. Sampler size: 22" x 22W' Frame size: 27" x 27W' Price: $6800.
(detail) AMERicA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
SELECTED NEEDLEWORK BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, Gloria Seaman. Family Record Genealogical Watercolors and Needlework. Washington, DC: DAR Museum, 1989. A Maryland Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery, 1738-1860, Maryland Historical Society, 2007. Bolton, Ethel Stanwood and Coe, Eve Johnston. American Samplers. Boston: The Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1921. Browne, Clare and Jennifer Wearden. Samplers from the Victoria and alvert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 1999. Edmonds, Mary Jaene. Samplers and Samplermakers, An American Schoolgirl Art 1700-1850. New York: Rizzoli, 1991. Herr, Patricia T. The Ornamental Branches, Needlework and Art from the Lititz Moravian Girls' School Between 1800 and 1865. The Heritage Center Museum of Lancaster County, Pa, 1996. Hersh, Tandy and Charles. Samplers of the Pennsylvania Germans. Birdsboro, PA: Pennsylvania German Society, 1991. Humphrey, Carol. Samplers, Fitzwilliam Museum Handbooks. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Quaker School Girl Samplers from Ackworth. Needleprint & Ackworth School Estates Limited, 2006. Ivey, Kimberly Smith. In the Neatest Manner: The Making of the Virginia Sampler Tradition. Colonial Williamsburg and Curious Works Press, 1997. Krueger, Glee F. A Gallery of American Samplers: The Theodore H. Kapnek Collection. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978. New England Samplers to 1840. Sturbridge, Massachusetts: Old Sturbridge Village, 1978. Parma], Pamela A. Samplers from A to Z. Boston, Massachusetts: MFA Publications, 2000. Ring, Betty. American Needlework Treasures. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1987. Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework, 1650-1850. Knopf, 1993. Let Virtue be a Guide to Thee: Needlework in the Education of Rhode Island Women, 1730-1820. Providence: The Rhode Island Historical Society, 1983. Schiffer, Margaret B. Historical Needlework of Pennsylvania. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968. Schorsch, Anita. Mourning Becomes America: Mourning Art in the New Nation. Clinton, New Jersey: The Main Street Press, 1976. Staples, Kathleen, This Have I Done: Samplers and Embroideries from Charleston and the Lowcountry. Curious Works Press and the Charleston Museum, 2002. Studebaker, Sue. Ohio Samplers, School Girl Embroideries 1803-1850. Warren County Historical Society, 1988. Ohio Is My Dwelling Place. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2002. Swan, Susan B. Plain and Fancy: American Women and Their Needlework, 1700-1850. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977.
M. Finkel ~ Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Conservation Mounting of Antique Samplers and eedlework Because of the important role that condition play in the fie! o· anti c lcr- an needlework, we strive to insure that these pieces undergo proper preser\'ation ,·hile in our care. Belo \ i a tep-by-step description of the "conservation mounting' proces . Our techniques are imple and traightforward; we remove the dust and dirt particles mechanically, never wet-cleanin the textiles. \ ·e u e only acid-free materials and museum-approved techniques throughout the process. Please call u if you have any questions in this regard.
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Carefully clean the piece using our special vacuum process.
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Mount it by means of hand-sewing onto acid-free museum board that has been slip-cased with fabric appropriate to the piece itself, and at the same time stabilize any holes or weak areas.
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Re-fit the item back into its original frame, or custom-make a reproduction of an 18th or early 19th century frame using one of our exclusive patterns.
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Supply a reverse painted black glass mat, if appropriate, done in correct antique manner.
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When necessary, install TruVue Conservation Clear glass which blocks 97% of the harmful ultraviolet light.
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In the framing process, the needlework is properly spaced away from the glass, the wooden frame is sealed, and the dust cover is attached with special archival tape.
detail of sampler by Mercy Gillow, page 11
detail of sampler by Ann Webster, page 27
AMERICA'S LEADING SAMPLER AND NEEDLEWORK DEALER
detail of sampler by Mary Abel, page 10
detail of sampler by Paula Casyanaza, page 31
M.Finkei6J Daughter.
detail of sampler by Martha Ryan, circa 1820 page 1
detail of sampler by Mary Owen, 1815 page 5
est. 1947
M. Finkel e:J Daughter. AMERICA'S LEADING ANTIQUE SAMPLER & NEEDLEWORK DEALER
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