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Embroiderer: Smith, Ann, embroiderer
Woollen canvas embroidered with polychrome silks in cross and tent stitch
Woollen canvas embroidered with shades of blue, green, yellow, pink, and red silks in cross and tent stitch. The upper part of the sampler is divided into alternating bands of inscription and arcaded repeat stylized floral patterns, with a set of numerals 1-19 following the first inscription. The lower third comprises a longer six-line inscription in red: O might I in my Youthful Days, Reflect on my Creators face/Call on my Heavenly Fathers Name, Whose mercy made me what I am./2/Whose love out of his bosom gave, His only Son a world to save,/To buy and wash me with his Blood, And bring my new born Soul to GOD./3/Still may thy grace victorious prove, To draw me with the cords of Love,/O let me know my Sins forgiven, And reign with Thee my GOD in Heaven. Below are two cartouches flanked by detached floral motifs, a central pink or carnation, a yellow tulip with two birds to either side. In the left cartouche is the inscription in red, 'Ann Smith/Finished/This/Work' ,and in the right, ‘October 30th/In The/Year/1772’ symmetrically placed small geometric motifs are worked around the words. The bands are enclosed by an arcaded border of four repeated stylized floral motifs. In a glazed frame the back of which is covered with a piece of a newspaper of 1912
History note: Witney Antiques, 96-100 Corn Street, Witney, OXON, OX28 6BU
Given by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum with a contribution from the Zoë Hadwen Fund
Height: 38.5 cm
Width: 30 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (2008-11-24) by The Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum
18th Century, third quarter
George III
Production date:
dated
AD 1772
A sampler of 1766/1767 also worked by an Ann Smith came into the Fitzwilliam Museum collection with the Longman Bequest (T.37-1938). It too is divided into wide bands, although one is pictorial depicting Adam and Eve, and the border framing the bands is rather wider than that of 1772. There are two similar cartouches with a slight difference in the arrangment of the inscription, in the left 'Ann/Smith/Finished/This' and in the right, 'Work/March 4/1767'. The palette of the silks is very similar on the two samplers. With no family information on or about the sampler, and with such a common name, it has been impossible to discover anything about Ann Smith's background. However, there are several stylistic elements in the samplers which could indicate an origin in Scotland or the Border Counties. The almost linear style of shading used for the larger floral motifs, the use of cartouches for inscribed information, and the 'twisted stem' of the earlier cartouches are found on Scottish samplers from the mid 18th century. See Documentation Tarrant, 1978.
Embroidery
composed of
silk
( blue, green, yellow, pink, red)
Decoration
Weaving : Woollen canvas embroidered with blue, green, yellow, pink, and red silks
Accession number: T.1-2008
Primary reference Number: 166008
Entry form: 1011
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
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The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Sampler" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/166008 Accessed: 2024-04-24 13:52:40
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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/166008
|title=Sampler
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-04-24 13:52:40|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Sampler</figcaption>
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