Sampler by Sarah E. Randolph

DateAugust, 1833 (dated)

Artist/Maker Sarah E. Randolph

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a natural-color linen ground of 27 warps by 28 wefts per inch (identification of fibers by eye); attached to a wooden mount and in a wood frame under glass

DimensionsFramed; OH 21" x OW 21" Actual: OH 17" x OW 17" 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1992-166,A

DescriptionThis is a framed square needlework sampler worked in shades of what were originally green, red/pink, and ivory/gold embroidery threads on a natural-color linen ground. The sampler has selvages at top and bottom and a 1/4" hem at sides. From the top, the sampler consists of:
"A-M', upper case block, worked in eyelet stitch
Single band of four-sided stitch
"N-X", upper case block, worked in eyelet stitch
Single band of double cross stitch
"A-O", script, worked in four-sided stitch
Single band of queen stitch
"P-Z", script and "&", worked in four-sided stitch
Single band of alternating two eyelet stitches and 1 queen stitch
"A-T", upper case block, worked in cross stitch
Single band of four-sided stitch
"U-Z", upper case block, "&", "1-9", "0", and diamond shapes, worked in cross stitch
Single band of cross stitch
"a-z" and "&", lower case block, worked in cross
Single band of cross stitch
The bottom fourth of sampler consists of a signature line enclosed in a simple border: "Wrought by Sarah E Randolph/ in the 11th year of her age Warwick Aug. 1833". Below is a verse with flanking baskets of flowers: "Tis religion must supply/ Solid comfort when we die."
The sampler is enclosed on all four sides with a strawberry and vine border.

Stitches: cross (over one and two), double cross, eyelet, four-sided and queen
Label TextThe verse that Sarah E. Randolph stitched onto her sampler is an excerpt from a poem written by Mary Masters and published in "Familiar Letters and Poems on Several Occasions" (1755). Many sampler makers stitched moral and religious verses onto their samplers during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Teachers were expected to further both the moral and intellectual development of their pupils and sampler making was one means by which they accomplished this task.
Inscribed"Tis religion must supply/ Solid comfort when we die".
ProvenanceCWF acquired this sampler from Francis McNairy Antiques in 1992. McNairy had acquired the sampler from a man with the last name of Randolph.

Sarah E. Randolph has not been identified.