Sampler by Mary Perkins

Date1826

Artist/Maker Mary Perkins

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 28 x 30 threads per inch (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsOW: 17 3/4" x OH: 16 3/4"

Credit LineAnonymous gift

Object number1971-1479

DescriptionThis is an almost square sampler consisting of black, blue, light brown and dark brown (likely faded) embroidery threads on linen ground. The sampler features a series of five alphabets, an inscription, and a verse that reads, "May wisdom and science illumine your morn./ Religion and virtue your evening adorn." The source of the verse has not yet been found. All four edges are hem stitched.

Stitches: cross stitch over two, eyelet, satin
Label TextThis sampler, made by Mary Perkins of Walden, New York, in 1826, is typical of its time. It features five alphabets of different fonts and sizes, a signature, and a verse that reads, "May wisdom and science illumine your morn./ Religion and virtue your evening adorn." The source of the verse has not yet been identified, indicating that perhaps it was written by Mary or someone close to her, instead of being published in a verse book that many schoolchildren would have read and used as a source of inspiration for their sampler inscriptions.
Inscribed"Mary Perkin's Sampler Wrought 1826 in the 14th Year of her age Walden"

"May wisdom and science illumine your morn./ Religion and virtue your evening adorn."
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceGift of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Everett Tomlinson, 89 Llewellyn Road, Montclair, New Jersey 07042