Sampler (Alphabet or marking sampler)

Description

This is Tamar Bryant's alphabet or marking sampler embroidered with silk threads on a loose-woven linen ground. Tamar, from New Castle County, Delaware, worked this sampler in 1793. She was 18 years old. Tamar married Daniel Haines, and they lived in Cantwell's Bridge (Odessa) for a time. Tamar and Daniel had two daughters, Ann and Rebecca, whose samplers are similar in appearance to their mother's, are also in Winterthur's collection. Tamar's sampler is incomplete, and it is likely that the large band with the zig zag line would have been finished with large alternating flowers. The inscription on this sampler is as follows: "Tamar Brant Her Samplar 1793"