This handsome Dutch Sampler is dated 1779 and presents an excellent assortment of classic Dutch sampler motifs, some of them biblical. The central image is Adam and Eve, with their initials identifying them at the base of the tree and the large serpent wending his way up the tree trunk. Along the right side are the Spies of Canaan, Joshua and Caleb carrying their very large bunch of grapes. 

In the upper left we see a variation of the Dutch Maiden Lady and the Holy Lions, another classic motif. The Holy Lions look a bit more like adorable, oversized dogs in this case. 

Some Dutch samplermakers included depictions of household furnishings as we see on this one - the linen cupboard at left, and the baby cradle next to the Spies. There must have been a few more motifs planned for this sampler; however, we appreciate the work that was completed. 

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and black painted frame. 

A beautifully made band sampler, this is initialed MEK and dated 1732 and is most likely Scottish. The large GR flanking the crest of crossed swords is the abbreviation for George Rex, King George II. 

Notably, this sampler is worked reversibly so that the back is just about as beautifully finished as the front. Beginning at the top, the first row is the alphabet, and the next two rows are ligatures, a form of combined letters. It continues on with beautifully worked larger alphabets and the last three rows of letters may be initials or further practice letters. 

The crowns and coronets symmetrically placed with letters below them likely refer to Duke, Earl, Lord, and Baron. In a small near the bottom are the initials it is signed, “MEK 1732 AG” - the second set initials likely those are her teacher. 

The sampler is unframed and worked in silk on mustard colored linen that retains a slight glaze. The condition is excellent with some minor fade and a very small worn area just below the crest.

Jedidah Besse, age twelve, was living in Wareham, Massachusetts, a small town on Buzzards Bay just east of Sandwich, when she made the charming little sampler in 1819. She signed it with her nickname, which she worked in large letters at the end of the third row from the top, and again along the bottom three rows, “Didah Besse Wrought this in the 13 year of her age Wareham, August the 3 1819 DB.”

Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts by William Richard Cutter (Lewis Publishing Company, NY, 1910) includes much information about the Besse family. Anthony Besse, the immigrant ancestor, was born in England in 1609 and sailed to America on the ship, James, in 1635. He lived initially in Lynn and then removed to Sandwich, and “was a man of education.” Jedidah was born seven generations later in 1806, the daughter of Captain Silvanus and Thankful (Bates) Besse. She remained single and put her skill with needle and thread to good use; the 1860 census shows her living in Wareham and working as a tailoress. She died in 1864 and is buried in Centre Cemetery with family members. 

The sampler was worked in silk in linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a painted frame with a gold inner liner and bead. 

The first decades of the 19th century saw a strong interest in the architecture of Solomon’s Temple from the biblical story, and this subject appears on English schoolgirl samplers of the period. Louisa Walmsley’s sampler is unusual in two respects – it’s quite large, with the graphic, detailed depiction of the Temple filling up most of the space, and it’s solidly stitched. All of the background was worked in beige stiches giving a wonderful texture to the sampler. It is signed along the bottom, “Louisa Walmsley A Representation of Solomon’s Temple anno Domini, 1831.” 

Stitched along the top of the sampler is, "But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy Mercy and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy Temple,” from Psalm 5:7 and, “Upon that fine building no hammer did sound,” from Kings 6:7. A pair of angles, stitched in an extremely tight scale, float above the Temple and the border that surrounds it on four sides frames the composition beautifully. 

The samplermaker was most likely the daughter of John and Isabella (Busby) Walmsley, born 1818 in Preston, Lancashire. She married Richard Barker, and they remained in Preston where he worked as a cotton spinner and they had several children. 

The sampler was worked in wool and silk on linen. It is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a figured maple frame with a gilt liner. 

The splendid large pictorial samplers made at the school of Mrs. Mary Ralston of Easton, Pennsylvania in the 1830s are among the most interesting of all of the early 19th century samplers made in the mid-Atlantic region. Writing in Girlhood Embroidery, vol. II, Betty Ring provides much information about Mary Ralston and the highly recognizable samplers worked under her able instruction, featuring “impressive buildings surrounded by heavy floral borders worked in wool.” 

Mary Ralston (1772-1850) commenced teaching in Easton and opened a girls’ private school that was in operation from 1813 until 1834. She was highly respected, as evidenced by the published obituary in the April 13, 1850, Easton Democrat and Argus: “[Mrs. Ralston] had resided in this place, where for many years she conducted a female school. Her many moral and social virtues made a lasting impression upon the affections of this community.” Along with these large, praiseworthy samplers, other smaller ones were made at the school; these are also documented by Betty Ring in the same book. 

The most sought-after Ralston School samplers closely resemble this excellent piece, with a fine depiction of a handsome, large building, worked in shades of grey. The complex borders are lavished with detail and beautifully composed with large, shaded flower blossoms and leaves. A few of these Ralston School pieces include an interesting and unusual technique - black or dark brown velvet fabric was used for the centers of several of the flowers, with silk embroidery over the velvet, creating an outstanding depth to those flowers; this is evident on our praiseworthy sampler. 

Interestingly, this sampler descended in the family along with a small sampler, shown here as well. This was also made at Mary Ralston’s school and is signed by Susanna Lehn and dated 1822. Susanna was born in 1811 to John and Susanna (Gangwehr) Lehn of Easton. 

Prior to about 1830, the samplers made under Mary Ralston's instruction (briefly mentioned above) were small and much simpler, and included a house outlined with cotton thread. The small sampler made by Susanna Lehn leads to a confident attribution that the large one was also made by a member of the Lehn family, most likely the same samplermaker. Susanna remained single and would likely have continued her education in the needle arts. This sampler will accompany the large one. 

The large sampler was worked in silk and wool with velvet on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine figured maple frame. 

photo of accompanying Susanna Lehn sampler

This is a beautifully made sampler inscribed, “PHEBE HORNOR DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM AND EFFE WAS BORN MARCH THE 14 1798.” The pictorial composition places the sampler in a significant group called the Stepped Terrace Samplers as all of the samplers include a lawn with pine trees in a handsome stepped-up formation. The group originated in Philadelphia in the 18th century where the inscriptions also featured the first letter of each word worked in a color contrasting with the rest of the word. These features, along with the vertical format, excellent and very precise queen’s-stitch and eyelet stitch, lead us to conclude that Phebe’s teacher was likely from Philadelphia. 

A lecture recently given by sampler scholar and researcher, Kathryn Lesieur, for a program at the Schwenkfelder Heritage Center of Pennsylvania, explored this form of sampler. Kathy states that, “The stepped terrace samplers made under the direction of Mary Zeller and Salome Schneider in Philadelphia during the late 18th century express a sophisticated combination of many influences, both English and German.” Her lecture explored the earlier influences on these samplers and the later samplers they in turn influenced. Our Phebe Hornor sampler is an excellent example of this group. 

As she stated on her sampler, Phebe was the daughter of William Effe, born March 14, 1798. The Hornor family in America originated with John Hornor (1630-1689) who was born in Yorkshire and died in Burlington County, New Jersey in 1689. This Old Monmouth of Ours by William S. Horner (Freehold, NJ, 1932) states that William and Effe lived in New Egypt and Matawan, where William operated a packet sloop. Phebe was their only child. In 1838, she married Charles Hopkins and died in 1842. 

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and black painted frame. 

photo of reverse
 

Signed, “Mercy Kemp Yalding, Kent Aged 14 Years” and dated 1814, this is a fine little sampler. The verse, “Jesus is our God and Saviour / Guide and Counsellor and Friend / Bearing all our misbehavior / Kind and loving to the end,” is from a hymn that was popular in the period. A finely stitched checkerboard basket of fruit is flanked by flowering branches and other motifs. An alphabet is stitched across the very top of the sampler. 

Yalding is a small village in Kent, about 5 miles from Maidstone; there has been a settlement there since medieval times. A wonderful stone bridge, about 450 feet long and constructed in the 1400s, remains the longest surviving medieval bridge in Kent and is considered an historic site. 

Mercy was the daughter of Jude and Susannah (Sharp) Kemp who were married on June 19, 1800 in Yalding at St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Church, also an historic site as the building was begun in the 13th century. Mercy was born on March 28, 1801, and baptized at the same church. In 1829, she married William Edlow, a harness-maker and saddler with a business on High Street, in the town of Kent. They had at least three children, born between 1830 and 1834. 

The sampler was worked in silk on wool and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a late 19th frame.

In the 1820s and 30s a proclivity for working very large, beautifully stitched, pictorial samplers developed in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The best of these samplers feature lustrous lawns with grazing sheep, swans, deer and rabbits and a wonderful assortment of many other motifs on the samplers - flowers, birds, baskets and stars - some of them are Quaker in origin. They also include birds and butterflies, baskets of fruit, large blossom flowers, and an extraordinary cartouche encircling the verse. Ann H. Vogdes’ splendid sampler is the finest known example of this type and its provenance is equally significant. 

The sampler was in the very important Theodore H. Kapnek collection, exhibited at the American Folk Art Museum in 1978 and illustrated in both A Gallery of American Samplers The Theodore H. Kapnek Collection by Glee Krueger (E.P. Dutton, New York, 1978) and Arts and Crafts of Chester County, Pennsylvania by Margaret Berwind Schiffer (Schiffer Publishing Ltd, Exton, PA, 1980).  

Ann was born July 21, 1808, the oldest child of Aaron and Ann Wayne (Hayman) Vogdes. The family lived in Willistown, Chester County where both Aaron and Ann were raised. Sadly, Ann died in 1826 at age 18; she is buried in Old Saint David’s Church Cemetery in Wayne, Pennsylvania. 

The ancestry of the Vogdes family is traced back to Reynard Vogdes (1713-1750) who was born in Germany and was in Philadelphia by 1739. Ann’s maternal ancestry includes General Anthony Wayne (1745-1796), the distinguished Revolutionary War general, considered one of the country’s Founding Fathers. There are many published sources regarding this family’s history and a substantial file of research accompanies this sampler.

Worked in silk in linen, the sampler is in very good condition with some slight loss. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine maple and cherry corner-block frame.

We occasionally come across a particularly endearing type of needlework picture. These were stitched in the very early 19th century onto published prints on paper, so that the print is visible in a few areas. In this case the face and hands of the boy, and the lettering below are the original print and everything else was stitched. The subject, “Boy and Dog,” is delightful - a young boy holds a puppy while the adult dog (likely the mom of the puppy) jumps up. There are wonderful details such as the boy’s double-breasted jacket, hat and slippers and the markings on the dogs.

This was published March 19, 1795, by T. Colley, No. 3 Union Street, Portsea, as printed across the bottom. Thomas Colley was a prolific printer who was known to have worked in various locations, including Portsea. 

The needlework is in excellent condition. The paper has some slight discoloration and wrinkles. It is in its original carved and painted Hogarth style frame.