Object number1997.7.156
Sampler
Date1785
Artist
Mary Brown
(American (Massachusetts: Newburyport), b.1776)
CultureAmerican
MediumSilk threads on linen
DimensionsOverall (tall rectangle - including mount, unframed): 22 1/2 x 17 1/4 x 1/8 in. (57.1 x 43.8 x 0.3 cm)
Image (sampler): 21 1/4 x 16 1/2 in. (54 x 41.9 cm)
Image (sampler): 21 1/4 x 16 1/2 in. (54 x 41.9 cm)
Credit LineTransfer from Vassar College Libraries, Special Collections, Martha Clawson Reed Collection
On View
Not on viewPeriod18th c
Classification(s)
SignedLower left: Mary Brown
InscribedInscribed: Swift as the Sun Revolves the Day we hasten to th / dead / Slaves to the wind we Puffaway and to the ground we tre / ad / Mary Brown Born February 19th 1776 Ae 9 years
BibliographyMary Brown was baptized January 21, 1776 in Newburyport , Essex County, Massachusetts , the daughter of Ebenezer Brown. ( Newburyport, Essex County, Massachusetts Birth Records to 1850 vis Ancestry.com) The style of her sampler, comparable to the Sarah Currier sampler (Joan Stephens Collection) and possibly worked under the teacher Lydia Waters corroborates Newburyport as her home . Mary was probably the Mary Brown listed in the 1850DescriptionThe Mary Brown samplers displays three alphabets, and six dividing bands in the upper register above a twining heart band. The middle register is a verse by Jonathan Swift, a strawberry band and an inscription. Completing the composition is a balanced pictorial centered around a basket above a flowering tree, flanked by pairs of birds, including parrots, umbrella pine trees, lions, diamonds and other small motifs. Each tree and lions sits atop a striated green mound alternating cross stitch with rows of drawn thread.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge.
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