Object number1997.7.40
Sampler
Date1814
Artist
Elizabeth Anderson
(American, born 1806)
CultureAmerican
MediumSilk and linen threads on linen ground
DimensionsSight (tall rectangle): 13 7/8 x 10 1/8 in. (35.2 x 25.7 cm)
Framed (vintage frame with glass): 15 1/4 x 11 1/2 x 5/8 in. (38.7 x 29.2 x 1.6 cm)
Framed (vintage frame with glass): 15 1/4 x 11 1/2 x 5/8 in. (38.7 x 29.2 x 1.6 cm)
Credit LineTransfer from Vassar College Libraries, Special Collections, Martha Clawson Reed Collection
On View
Not on viewPeriod19th c
Classification(s)
SignedUR: Elizabeth Anderson
InscribedAA HA A SA/ Love the Lord / And he will be/ A tender father/Unto thee (see notes)
TC: Elizabeth Anderson Her Sampler Made in the 8 Year of her / Age 1814
BibliographyBolton & Coe DescriptionThe upper register of the sampler contains 2 alphabets, a number series 1 - 9, 4 sets of initials (AA HA A SA), the name of the maker, and a date. The lower two-thirds display a verse, a checkerboard Georgian House, and a terraced lawn with a man in blue knee-breeches, animals, and flowers. The landscape scene is flanked by trees, birds, baskets, butterflies, and flower sprigs, mostly paired. There is a strawberry bank across the top. Elizabeth Anderson's work is an example of a distinctive type of Pennsylvania sampler commonly called Terraced Lawn samplers, which became popular in Philadelphia in the last decade of the 18th century. The style continued well into the nineteenth century in various areas of Philadelphia as well as Reading, Berks County, PA, Burlington, NJ, Frederick, MD, and Washington, DC. The sampler is worked in cross stitch and queen stitch in green, blue, browns, cream, white, black and rust thread.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge.
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