Sampler by Unknown Maker

Dateca. 1840

MediumSilk and wool threads on a linen ground (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsFramed: OH 19 3/4" x OW 18 1/8" Actual: OH 18 5/8" x OW 17"

Credit LineGift of the John D. Rockefeller, 3rd, Fund, Inc., through the generosity and interest of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, 3rd, and members of the family

Object number1979.608.2

DescriptionThis rectangular sampler is worked in shades of red, orange, green, blue, blue-green, black, brown, and beige a natural color ground. A large landscape worked in cross stitch serves as the sampler's central focal point. This landscape depicts a barn, which sits next to a pond, which is in turn bordered by a fence. A verse occupies the bottom quarter of the sampler and reads: "When youth's soft season shall be o'er/ And scenes of childhood charm no more/ My riper years with joy shall see/ Ths [sic] proof of Infant Industry." The entire sampler is bordered by an undulating floral vine.
Label TextThis sampler can be classified as a transitional piece. Although it retains the border and verse typical of eighteenth and nineteenth-century samplers, the pictorial landscape resembles the patterns that were emerging from Berlin, Germany during the mid-nineteenth century. Patterns from Berlin were printed on a graph, making it easy for needleworkers to transfer them onto the ground fabric. Usually these patterns were worked in wool using a single type of stitch (usually cross or tent stitch).
Inscribed"When youth's soft season shall be o'er/And scenes of childhood charm no more/ My riper years with joy shall see/ Ths [sic] proof of Infant Industry."
ProvenanceCollection of Mr. & Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd. Given to C.W.F. in 1979.