1985.0052 Sampler and 1985.0603 Frame
  • 1985.0052 Sampler and 1985.0603 Frame
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Sampler (Verse sampler)

  • Category:

    Textiles (Needlework)

  • Creator (Role):

    Sarah Lees Art (Maker)

  • Place of Origin:

    Lewes, Sussex, Delaware, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

  • Date:

    1806-1806

  • Materials:

    Linen; Silk

  • Techniques:

    Embroidered, Woven (plain)

  • Museum Object Number:

    1985.0052


  • Complete Details



Object Number

1985.0052

Object Name

Sampler (Verse sampler)

Category

Textiles (Needlework)

Credit Line/Donor

Museum purchase

Creator (Role)

Sarah Lees Art (Maker)
1793-1875
Sarah Lees Art (1793-1875) of Pilottown, a village in Lewes, Delaware, was the daughter of Baily Art (1768-1826) and Sarah Lees Art (1773-1797). Her father and grandfather were both river pilots. Sarah's sampler, worked in 1806, depicts a house that appears in different variations on many samplers from Mrs. Bower's School Lewes in the 1820's. The first samplers to be linked directly with the school are dated in 1817, too late, perhaps, to place Sarah there as a student. Sarah married river pilot James Rowland (1784-1851) on January 6, 1813. Direct descendents still live in Lewes, Delaware. A complete geneology is in the object folder in Registration.

Place of Origin

Lewes, Sussex, Delaware, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

Date

1806-1806

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Inscription; ; "Sarh Art her Work duN at LUIS in [stitches removed] the / fifth sep**r 1806" (embroidered silk threads)

Materials

Linen; Silk

Techniques

Embroidered, Woven (plain)

Construction Description

Hand-embroidered

Dimensions (inches)

16 (L) , 14.25 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

40.64 (L) , 36.195 (W)

Measurement Notes

Dimensions refer to area of needlework visible within frame.

Object Description

Web - 05/20/2014

This is a linen verse sampler worked with silk threads in 1806 by Sarah Lees Art of Pilotstown, near Lewes, Delaware. Sarah's sampler includes elements from Quaker design, especially the "Emblem of Love" within a wreath, and the flower sprigs at the bottom edge. Her sampler also depicts a Georgian-style house with green door shutters that appears in different variations on a group of samplers from Mrs. Bower's School Lewes in the 1820's. The first samplers to be linked directly with The Bower's School are dated in 1817, too late, perhaps, to place Sarah there as a student. Some of the words in Sarah's sampler are misspelled, missing, or difficult to read. The text was taken from a song called Morality, in Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, and are as follows: (left): "While beauty and / pLeasure are now in ther / Prime and FOLLY & FaShION / expect our WhOLE tIME / AH Let not those / phantoms our wishes / engage let us LIVE so in Youth / that we BLush not in age" (right): "ThOugh the vain and th\e / gaY MaY attend us a while / Yet Let not their fLattrY / our Prudence BeguILe / Let us Covet those [charms] that / WILL never decaY nor / LISten to all that dece / ivers can saY" Legend: "B-Art S-Art I-Art / H-Art I-Art M-A Lees"; and "Sarh Art her Work duN at LUIS in [stitches removed] the / fifth sep**r 1806"

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Article] Swan, Susan Burrows. 1985 Delaware Samplers. Delaware Antiques Show Catalogue. 6.
Published: p. 56, Fig. 7
[Catalogue] 1985 Delaware Antiques Show Catalogue.
Published: p. 56, Fig. 7
[Book] Anderson, Lynne & Allen, Gloria Seaman. 2014 Wrought with Careful Hand: Ties of Kinship on Delaware Samplers.
Published: p. 46