Sampler by Mary Best

Date1693 (dated) (Cut apart & framed in the 18th c.)

Artist/Maker Mary Best

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 52 x 54 threads per inch (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsSampler: OW: 8 1/4" X OH: 16 1/2"; Framed: OW: 10 3/4" X OH: 19"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1955-46

DescriptionThis framed band sampler is the top half of a seventeenth-century sampler made by Mary Best in 1693. It features geometric floral borders; bird and acorn borders on either side of large Tudor rose (of raised work); other wide and narrow borders, all in colored silks on natural tabby-woven linen canvas, worked primarily in several cross stitches, satin and detached needle lace.

Stitches: bullion knots, buttonhole, chain, cross, detached buttonhole, detached needle lace and other needle lace, double running, eyelet, French knots, four-sided, long-arm cross, marking cross, running and satin stitch

Label TextThis seventeenth-century band sampler is the top half of a sampler that began life as one long sampler in 1693. It features decorative and floral bands, along with an undulating band of Tudor roses worked in detached buttonhole stitches.
InscribedNone
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceOnce a single sampler later cut apart and framed.

Exhibition(s)