Sampler, "On a Negrow," by Sarah Balley

Date1803

Artist/Maker Sarah Balley (b. 1789)

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 32 x 34 per inch, wood, glass (fiber identification by lab)

DimensionsFramed: OW: 16 5/8" x OH: 21 7/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1990-185

DescriptionThis is a rectangular needlework sampler with silk threads on a natural-colored linen ground. At the top of the sampler are alphabets and numbers. The alphabet consists of each letter stitched twice, both capitalized. The alphabet is divided into two lines, with the first line including letters "A" through "N," and the second line letters "O" through "Z." The next three lines feature numerals 1 through 53, divided up 1 through 22, 23 through 38, and 39 through 53. Below this is the title of a poem, "On a Negrow," flanked by two navy blue lions. Below this is the poem in faded tan thread, which reads, "On a Negrow/Deem our nation brutes no longer/Till some reason you Can Find/Worthier of regard and stronger/Than the Colours of our kind/Slaves of gold whose sordid dealings/Tarnish all your boasted Powers/Prove that you have human feelings/Ere you Proudly question ours."

Below the poem is a blue cartouche with "Sarah Balleys/Aged 14 work/1803" stitched inside in the same color. This cartouche is framed by a shepherdess and a shepherd, each of whom have a black dog with white spots next to them. The shepherdess, on the viewer's left side, wears a white dress with a black apron and bodice design. The shepherd wears a dark green-blue coat and white stockings.

Below the cartouche and shepherding pair is what appears to be a white bench with a bird perched atop and a dog below, situated in a leafy arboretum. On either side is a potted flower, and to the outer edge of each is a diamond design. The sampler has a strawberry border on all four sides and is framed in a dusty green frame.

Stitches: cross
Label TextThis sampler, made by fourteen-year-old Sarah Balley in 1803, includes an abolitionist poem by William Cowper that is from the point of view of an enslaved person. The inclusion of this poem indicates that the sampler maker and her family supported the end of slavery.
Inscribed"On a Negrow/Deem our nation brutes no longer/Till some reason you Can Find/Worthier of regard and stronger/Than the Colours of our kind/Slaves of gold whose sordid dealings/Tarnish all your boasted Powers/Prove that you have human feelings/Ere you Proudly question ours"
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceThe sampler was purchased from dealers in Wiscasset, Maine. No further provenance is known.
Sampler maker:
This sampler was made by either Sarah Balley, born on March 18th, 1789 in Great Yarmouth, England, or Sarah Bally, born on May 9th, 1789 in Bath, England. Sarah Balley's mother's name was Sarah Balley and her father's name is unknown. Sarah Bally was born to William and Sarah Bally and was baptized in Walcot St Swithin, a church in a suburb of Bath. It has thus far proven impossible to tell which Sarah is the maker of this sampler, given the lack of spelling regulation in the eighteenth century and the fact that both Norfolk and Bath had active abolitionist movements at the time.