Sampler

Description

This is a linen motif sampler with merino wool yarns and black silk threads. The sampler has a gathered silk ribbon border. It was worked by Mary Elizabeth England of Cecil County, near Zion, Maryland in 1843. It was rare at this time for girls to work fancy samplers. By 1843, samplers were larger and displayed coarser work. Instead, this sampler is an example showing the new use of merino yearns, a fine linen ground, and some earlier, even Quaker-like motifs - the facing birds in a cartouche and the low fruit baskets are closely related to much earlier Quaker samplers. The ribbon border, which Mary Elizabeth carefully scalloped along the edges, also sets it off and is a feature found only in the Delaware Valley. The inscription on her sampler reads: "worked by / M.E. England / 10th mo 1843"