Sampler (Alphabet or marking sampler)

Description

This is a linen alphabet or marking sampler with silk threads. It was worked by Elizabeth Ashburnham, probably from Philadelphia or Wilmington, Delaware, between 1780 and 1800. This sampler is one of a group of four at Winterthur worked by four different girls from the renowned Philadelphia/Wilmington, Delaware, Bringhurst and Ashburnham family line. Elizabeth Ashburnham’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Ashburnham Smith, married Henry Ryan Bringhurst in 1868, linking both of these Quaker families to Wilmington prominence. The Quaker influence is evident in this and the other samplers, especially those with motifs and decorative elements. At seven years old, Elizabeth had mastered the most difficult needlework stitch - the Queen's stitch. She uses it prominently for the strawberries in her border design, as well as for the bottom divider of her sampler. Her signature reads: "ELIZABETH ASHBURN / HAM HeR SaMPLER / Made IN THe SEVENTH / YeaR OF HeR AGe"