Sampler

Maker Hannah Matthews

Period1814

MediumPlied, flat, and unraveled silk thread on linen

Dimensions23 × 23 in. (58.4 × 58.4 cm)

SignedThe sampler is signed and dated "Hannah Matthews Work / 1814."

ClassificationsNeedlework

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Julia Hartshorne Trask, 1946

Object number2084.55

DescriptionA large square sampler on gauzy linen, with selvedge edges along the left and right sides and narrow hemmed edges along the top and bottom. The sampler's embroidery is done in plied, flat, and unraveled silk threads in black, dark green, mint green, pale green, dark blue, pale blue, salmon, pale pink, pale lemon yellow, pale golden tan, and pearly white. Several stitches are used, including cross, Algerian eye, queen, satin, and french knots. In the very center of the sampler is the maker's name and date "Hannah Matthews Work / 1814." Below the inscription is a stepped border, while above meanders a broad stylized vine with pale green leaves boldly outlined in dark green and pale yellow and pearly white blossoms. Along the top portion of the sampler is a large 3/4 inch upper case alphabet, worked in Algerian eyelet, from A through O. Below is a verse reading "Guide Me o thou Great / Jehovah, Pilgrim through / this barren Land. / I am Weak but though / are Mighty, hold / Me With thy Powerful / hand." Flanking the verse on either side, in mirror image, is a stylized urn with floral sprays, a small single floral blossom atop a narrow green band, and trios of black and yellow birds. Below the central name and date is a pictorial scene. A castle-like building appears at center, topped with a bird, depicted on a stepped hillside worked in flat silk thread while a hunter in plumed hat, black boots, and holding a musket, stands casually on the left. A small black dog stands alertly between the hunter and the castle. A pine tree and a nodding floral blossom grow on the stepped terrace at left. To the right, a large fruit tree, with a few scattered fallen fruits, grows near two smaller trees. On the grassy lawn, three white sheep, small blossoms, and a lush strawberry vine are shown. A narrow dagged edge band encloses alphabet, verse, and scene. A bold zigzag vining band is worked around the entire sampler. Along the top and bottom, stylized strawberries alternate with stylized carnation blossoms. Along the left and right edges, stylized dianthus blossoms alternate with a variety of small stylized floral sprigs worked in queen stitch. The linen panel appears to retain a portion of its original mounting, with a half-inch woven linen tape whipstitched around all four edges. The tape shows signs of old tack holes and resultant rust staining.
Curatorial RemarksIf the maker of this sampler is indeed Upper Darby resident Hannah Matthews, she would have been about fifteen years of age when she completed her needlework masterpiece. Her well designed and accomplished sampler bears a strong resemblance to those produced in and around Philadelphia from the late eighteenth through the early nineteenth centuries. In Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework, 1650 - 1850, by Betty Ring, several samplers appear to have closely related motifs, including the castle-like building on a hill with its spires and finials, a terraced grassy foreground, queen stitched floral border motifs, the placid sheep with boldly outlined faces, and the dagged edge inner border bands. See volume two, pages 361 through 369, and especially figure 389. Hannah incorporated a good deal of time-consuming queen stitch within her needlework composition, including several of the individual motifs and a patch of lively strawberry plants sprouting from the green lawn. Hannah's verse is part of a hymn written by William Williams (1717 - 1791). Born in Wales, Williams left medical school to become a Methodist minister and hymn writer. NotesThe young girl who produced this fine sampler could be Hannah Matthews of Upper Darby, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. At age fifty-one, the 1850 census schedules show her living there with a Thomas Matthews, age fifty, Martha Matthews, age forty-eight, and Mary Matthews, age nineteen. Thomas appears to have been a brother to Hannah. The 1860 census again lists Hannah Matthews in Upper Darby, living with a Sarah Matthews, age seventy-two, perhaps an older sister. Hannah died on 26 November 1873 at the age of seventy-five. She was in interred in the Darby Vault of St. James Episcopal Church, located on Woodland Avenue in the nearby Kingsessing section of West Philadelphia.

Collections