Object number1960.9.23
Sampler
Date1781
Artist
I. L. T.
(British)
CultureBritish
MediumSilk threads on linen ground
DimensionsSight: 16 13/16 x 12 3/4 in. (42.7 x 32.39 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. James W. Packard (Elizabeth Gillmer, class of 1894)
On View
Not on viewPeriod18th c
Classification(s)
SignedLR: I.L.T.
InscribedLL: 1781
BibliographyThanks be to my Friends: Selected Samplers from the Collection of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (Poughkeepsie: FLLAC, 2004)
Pictorial landscape samplerExhibition HistoryPoughkeepsie, New York, FLLAC, Vassar College, "Modeling Femininity: Art and the Moral Education of Nineteenth-Century Women," January 27-March 15, 2000; Poughkeepsie, New York, FLLAC, Vassar College, "Thanks be to my Friends: Selected Samplers from the Collection of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center," June 5-July 18, 2004DescriptionThis unusual 1781 sampler is a study in balanced composition and harmonious color. In the top third of the sampler are two deer either side of Tree of Life with apples and a twining serpent. In the only break in the symmetry of the sampler, the deer on the right is posed as if drinking, an interpretation reinforced by the additional presence of a small willow tree indicating the presence of water - the Waters of Life. Butterflies, stars, fur trees and espaliered fruit trees crowned with yellow birds flank the deer to complete the formal design. A manor house with two wings and a straight carriage drive in front of a pair of lombardy poplars is the centrepiece of the sampler as well as of a symmetrical arrangement of evergreens, flowers in vases , oversize confronting birds, butterflies, and eight pointed stars in the middle register. In the bottom register the fence lined driveway splits to lead to pairs of attached cottages set within formal arrangements of evergreens. The predominant colors are greens, golds, browns, tans, and rusts. These are accented with blues, greys, and pinks. Each blossom of the honeysuckle border is composed of one light and dark color including golds, pinks, purples and dark blue .
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