Images(3)

Sampler by Unknown Maker

Date1640-1660

OriginEngland

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 66 x 42 threads per inch (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsOH: 33 1/2" x OW: 8 3/4"

Credit LineGift of Anonymous Donors

Object number1971-1482

DescriptionThis is a seventeenth-century English band sampler, which is narrow and quite long, made up of green, yellow, blue, and salmon-colored silks on an unbleached linen ground. The sampler consists of 17 bands of varying width. The bands feature a variety of geometric and floral designs. One band has a series of boxers -- very popular images on seventeenth-century English band samplers -- male figures holding flowers, acorns, or other objects (in this example, the boxers hold acorns) whose stance make them look like boxers. The sampler is completely reversible and does not have an obvious top or bottom. The sampler's short ends are unhemmed and its long ends are hemmed.

Stitches: darning, detached buttonhole, double running, long arm cross, Montenegrin, satin stitches
Label TextThis long, narrow sampler is typical of seventeenth-century English band samplers. While the sampler is limited in its color palette, featuring only green, yellow, blue, and salmon-colored silk threads, it is various in its band designs. Some bands are geometric while others are floral. One band, either the second from the top or second from the bottom depending on how you view the entirely reversible sampler, features boxers. Boxers can be seen on many seventeenth-century band samplers. They are male figures, sometimes clothed and other times not, who hold an object in one of their hands -- these objects can include flowers, birds, or, in this case, acorns. This figure's stance makes him resemble to a boxer, but he is likely derived from images of a courting man offering his lover a gift.
ProvenanceEx coll: Tomlinson, Mrs. Eleanor Sawyer, Walpole, N.H.