Textiles (Needlework)
Ruth Bowers (Maker)
Smyrna, Kent, Delaware, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America
Smyrna, Kent, Delaware, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America
Linen; Silk
Embroidered, Woven (plain)
1982.0329
Object Number1982.0329 |
Sampler (Spot motif sampler)
Textiles (Needlework)
Museum purchase
Ruth Bowers (Maker)
March 31, 1784-1852
Ruth Bowers of Duck Creek, now Smyrna, Delaware, was born March 31, 1784 to Mary Ann Powell (1755-1824) and John Bowers (1752-1824) of Murderkill Neck, in Kent County, Delaware. Her parents had 11 children - she was number six. When Ruth turned 14, her father inherited his father's plantation on Murderkill Neck along the Delaware Bay. This area is now known as Bowers Beach, and was owned by the Bowers family from 1734 to 1847. In 1795, Ruth's father, a member of the Murderkill Monthly Meeting, was on the committee that recommended to the Southern Quarterly Meeting that a the Southern Boarding School be established. Ruth was 18 years old when she stitched her sampler at this school in 1802. The Quaker influence is evident - her sampler uses motifs that are usually seen on the spot motif samplers of the Westtown School in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Ruth never married. Instead, she kept house for her youngest brother who owned farmland on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Ruth died at 68 years old while living with her brother.
Smyrna, Kent, Delaware, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America
Smyrna, Kent, Delaware, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America
Ruth Bowers worked this sampler while in attendance at the Southern Boarding School in Duck Creek (now Smyrna), Delaware.
1. Inscription; On the sampler; "Southern B [Boarding] School 1802 / EY / Ruth Bowers s Work" (Embroidered silk threads)
Linen; Silk
Embroidered, Woven (plain)
Hand-embroidered
14.5 (L) , 14 (W)
36.83 (L) , 35.56 (W)
Dimensions refer to area of needlework visible within frame.
This is a linen spot motif sampler worked with silk threads in 1802 by Ruth Bowers who attended the Southern Boarding School in Duck Creek (now Smyrna), Delaware. The motifs can be found on English Quaker samplers and were popular in America, especially throughout the Delaware Valley and as far south as Virginia. This particular sampler with its bands of motifs, "Emblem of Love" medallion, and signature, follows late 18th-century Quaker needlework traditions, initially established at Ackworth in England. Ruth was 18 years old when she completed this sampler. The inscription reads: "Southern B [Boarding] School 1802 / E Y / Ruth Bowers s Work"
[Catalogue] 1985 Delaware Antiques Show Catalogue.
• Published: p. 54, fig. 3
[Book] Anderson, Lynne & Allen, Gloria Seaman. 2014 Wrought with Careful Hand: Ties of Kinship on Delaware Samplers.
• Published: p. 18