Skip to main content
Advanced Search
DS1997-0223
Sampler by Margaret Williams
DS1997-0223

Sampler by Margaret Williams

Date1827 (dated)
Maker Margaret Williams
OriginAmerica, Maryland, Cecil County, Nottingham
MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 31 x 35 threads per inch (identification of fibers by eye)
DimensionsOH 16 3/4" x OW 16"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1997-2,A
DescriptionThis is a square needlework sampler worked in shades of green, blue, gold, black, ivory, yellow, and rust (originally a pink/red) silk embroidery threads on a natural-color linen ground. The sampler is hem stitched on all four side in a 1/4 hem and has an outer most sawtooth border.
The sampler has a wide outer border consisting of large realistically stitched flower sprigs, birds, and baskets. Centered in the top outer border is a large basket of flowers flanked by birds and a smaller basket of fruit.
The inner section of the sampler consists of a rectangular reserve outlined in a row of double cross stitch. Within the reserve the upper portion consists of:
"A-I" "K-Q" upper case block worked in cross stitch over one
Band of cross stitch
"R-Z" upper case block, heart motif, "1-5" worked in cross stitch over one
Band of cross stitch
"a-ss-z" lower case block worked in cross over one, queen stitch motif, "6-9" worked in cross over two
Band of herringbone
"A-P" upper case block worked in eyelet stitch
Band of eyelet
"Q-Z" upper case block worked in eyelet stitch, small vine and floral motif
Band of queen stitch
Large band of vine and berries
Double band of alternating blue and gold and eight, multicolored swags
The bottom portion of the inner reserve consists of the verse: "May I with Innocence and peace/ My fleeting moments Spend/ That when the toil of life shall cease/ May Calmness meet my End". Intertwined in this section is a floral and leaf vine. Beneath the vine is the signature line: "Margaret Williams Her Work 18[1 or 2]7/ East Notingham [sic] Coecil [sic] County State of Maryland". Below this is a sawtooth band with small flowers.

Stitches: bullion knot, cross, double cross, French knot, eyelet, hem, herringbone, outline, queen, and satin
Label TextMargaret Williams marked her sampler "East Notingham [sic] Coecil [sic] County State of Maryland," presumably for her hometown or where she worked this sampler. Her embroidery, however, has design elements found in early samplers of Delaware's New Castle County. Made between the years 1790 and at least as late as 1834, these "Fruit and Flower" samplers are distinguished by their realistically-worked floral sprays and birds. Some have a center reserve of alphabets and pious verse separated by an inner border.
Inscribed"May I with Innocence and peace/ My fleeting moments Spend/ That when the toil of life shall cease/ May Calmness meet my End"
ProvenanceM. Finkel & Daughter, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1988.

The Joan Stephens Collection, Important Samplers and Pictorial Needlework, Sotheby's, New York, Sunday, January 19, 1997, Lot 2107.

History of Sampler Maker:
Per Allen in MARYLAND SAMPLINGS, "Margaret may have been the Margaret Williams who married James Brown on March 29, 1830, in a ceremony performed by Presbyterian minister James Margay in the vicinity of Port Deposit." "Magraw was a trustee of the Misses Govers's Rock Run Female Seminary."