Sampler Attributed to Frances Burwell

DateCa. 1760

Artist/Maker Frances Burwell (1747 - 1784)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg Region

MediumSilk embroidery threads on linen ground of 46 wefts by 50 warps per inch. (Identification of fibers by eye)

DimensionsOW: 6 1/2" OL: 18 1/2"

Credit LinePartial funds for purchase donated by Kathleen A. Staples

Object number2000-90

DescriptionThis is a long, rectangular embroidered sampler worked in shades of blue, green, pink, red, yellow/gold, and brown silk threads on a natural-colored linen fabric. The sampler was hemmed on all four sides in a 1/8" hem.
From the top, the sampler consists of decorative bands of motifs and stitches. Top quarter contains bands of small patterns and alphabets "A-I" "K-T" "V"/ "W-Z" [A] "B C d e f g h I K-N"/ "O-Q r S t U W-Z 1-9."
The second quarter of the sampler consists of larger bands of stylized undulating flowers and vines.
The bottom half of sampler consists of two smaller bands, one with birds, the other undulating with buds. Centered below this is a four-storied blue building with a gabled stepped roof. It is depicted from the gable end with seven windows with green shutters. Perched on the roof are five birds. Flanking the building on each side is a fruit tree. Below the house is a band of three arches and two single, oversized flowers. Below this is the signature line with many missing embroidery threads. "Frances" can barely be read. The rest of the inscription is illegible. The last band consists of "12" in red silk embroidery threads.
Stitches: backstitch, cross reversing to cross, cross reversing to cross surrounded by reversible box, cross reversing to box, double cross, double running, eyelet, half cross, Montenegrin cross, satin, stem/outline, straight, upright cross
Label TextFrances Burwell's sampler is worked in a band format characteristic of examples from the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The patterns in the top half are typical of ones found on samplers from fifty years earlier. Motifs such as the building, flanking fruit trees, and birds in the bottom half are closely related to those on Mary Powell's Williamsburg sampler. The building with stepped roof and attic window depicted from the gable end reflects the Dutch architectural influence also seen in the Governor's Palace and other colonial Virginia buildings of the same period. Its side entrance, which is not typical of domestic dwellings, suggests that it may represent a public building, such as the custom house at Yorktown.

Born in 1747, Frances Burwell was the daughter of Colonel Robin Burwell of Isle of Wight County, Virginia, and Sally Nelson Burwell, the daughter of Thomas Nelson of Yorktown. In 1765, Frances married future governor John Page of Rosewell in Gloucester County, located across the York River from her grandparents' hometown. Frances died at Rosewell in 1784. Eight of her twelve children survived her. A eulogy written at the time of her death praised Frances for her piety and charity: "A better wife never died. She was a complete example to mothers. Sensible of the great blessing of early instructions, she laboured gradually and pleasingly to infuse into the tender minds of her offspring suitable portions of knowledge and virtue. She was a fast, valuable friend, and a good neighbor; a pattern to her sex and an ornament to human nature."

ProvenanceFrances Burwell, born 1747, at "Fairfield," presumably in Isle of Wight County, was the daughter of Col. Robin Burwell of Isle of Wight and Sally Nelson, daughter of Thomas Nelson of Yorktown. It is not known where Frances was educated. In 1765, Frances married John Page of Rosewell. Frances died in 1784, survived by eight of her twelve children.
Per a letter written by Mabel Anne Kramer of Williamsburg, the sampler descended to Anne Page of Gloucester, great-granddaughter of Frances. Anne gave the sampler as a childhood gift to Anne Oliver Maynard (1885- 1980) of Gloucester. The sampler then came in the possession of Anne Oliver Maynard's niece, Mabel Anne Kramer, said letter writer. Subsequently it was owned by Robert G. D. (Chip) Pottage, III, of Seaton, Sandra W. Crowther of Lynchburg, and Stephen & Carol Huber of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, from whom it was purchased by CWF.