Object number1960.9.51
Sampler
Date1803
Artist
Kezia Hawkes
(English, born Norwich, 1794)
CultureEnglish
MediumSilk threads on wool ground
DimensionsMount: 13 1/8 × 13 1/8 in. (33.34 × 33.34 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. James W. Packard (Elizabeth Gillmer, class of 1894)
On View
Not on viewPeriod19th c
Classification(s)
Signed Kezia Hawkes/ Aged 8 Years 1
Inscribed Virtue's the brightest Gem a Maid can wear / Nor can the Indies boast of one so fair / All the jewels far below its worth we find / They but adorn the Body this the Mind
Kezia Hawkes/ Aged 8 Years 1803
BibliographyMundy, James, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center: Vassar College The History and Collection (New York: Prestel Publishing, 2007), p.69 repr.; Thanks be to my Friends: Selected Samplers from the Collection of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (Poughkeepsie: FLLAC, 2004); Modeling Femininity: Art and the Moral Education of Nineteenth-Century Women (Poughkeepsie: FLLAC), p. 1; Lukacher, Joanne Martin, Imitation and Improvement: The Norfolk Sampler Tradition, (Redmond, WA, In the Company of Friends, 2013) p. 78 Exhibition 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, 2004DescriptionDisplaying a twining mixed floral wreath in greens, pinks, gold, and greens, surrounding a stepped lozenge into which is fitted two alphabets (one partial), a number sequence, a four line rhyming verse, and an inscription band, the Kezia Hawkes 1803 needlework is a classic example of Norfolk sampler design. Other distinctive Norfolk characteristics are the heart and diamond, and twining heart band in the apex of the lozenge, striated pines, birds, and acorn band.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge.
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