Sampler

Period1822

MediumSilk on linen

DimensionsSight: 15.25 × 12.5 in. (38.7 × 31.8 cm)

SignedThe sampler's inscription reads, "Wrought by Emerline [sic] Conover / in the 12th year of her age Oct. 30th / Cranberry Acadey [sic] / A.D. 1822."

ClassificationsNeedlework

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Julia Hartshorne Trask, 1946

Object number2084.4

DescriptionThis delicate sampler is worked in thin plied silk threads in shades of dark green, light green, brown, tan, and off-white on a finely woven linen ground. The lilting verse included in the sampler reads "Moderation / With passions unruffled, untarried with pride, / By reason my life let me square; / The wants of my nature cheaply supplied; / And the rest are but folly and care / How vainly through infinite trouble and strife, / the many their labours employ! / Since all that is truly delightful in life / Is what all, if they please, may enjoy." Below the verse is a simple horizontal queenstitch border band, and beneath that, the sampler's inscription reading "Wrought by Emerline [sic] Conover / in the 12th year of her age Oct. 30th / Cranberry Acadey [sic] / A.D. 1822" within a lozenge border. A trailing foliate vine meanders along all four edges of the sampler.
Curatorial RemarksThe Association is fortunate to have not one, but two samplers completed in the same year by the same maker. Emeline Conover's earlier small, originally brightly colored sampler (see accession number 1986.564) is worked on relatively heavy, sturdy linen with rather thick plied silk thread. This second sampler is much larger and is done on a high-quality finely woven linen ground, embroidered with thin plied silk threads. Possible theories for these differences are tantalizing. The larger sampler, completed in October of 1822, may have been started in the beginning of that year, perhaps in late winter or early Spring. The smaller of the two samplers, also dated 1822, may have been started the year before and completed in the first months of 1822 before Emeline tackled the more polished embroidery. While the smaller sampler includes only the name of the town of Cranbury and the larger sampler specifies Cranbury Academy as the place of instruction, Emeline most likely made both at this school. According to an 1818 advertisement in "The Federalist" newspaper, Cranbury Academy had a female division and taught music at $15 per quarter. Judging from Emeline's two samplers, the Academy also offered extensive needlework instruction The Association also owns a small decorative penmanship exercise by Emeline, featuring a verse within a pen, ink and watercolor border and dated 1822. Decorative handwriting must also have been part of the Academy's lessons. It is not known how long Emeline attended the Cranbury Academy, but it is clear that for 1822, at least, she was a busy and attentive student.NotesEmeline Conover was born on 11 November 1810, in Cranbury, Middlesex County, New Jersey, the third of five children of William W. Conover (1783 - 1837) and Catherine Mount (1787 - 1852). She was baptized on 20 January 1811 at the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury, and later attended the Cranbury Academy as a young girl. In or around 1816, at the age of about six, Emeline sat for itinerant portrait artist Micah Williams (1782 - 1837), who produced a small and lovely pastel image of the little girl, dressed in red and holding a small leather-covered book (see accession 1983.612). While at the Academy, Emeline completed a charming penmanship exercise dated 17 August 1822, this large verse sampler dated 30 October 1822, and a small practice sampler dated the same year (see accession number 1986.564). The Association owns both samplers, the penmanship exercise, and the portrait. On 19 April 1831, Emeline married John B. Story (1809 - 1886) and moved to Middletown, Monmouth County. On 7 June 1845, she gave birth to her seventh and last child, whom she named after herself. Emeline died fifteen days later, almost certainly from complications during or after the birth. The baby followed her mother to the grave after only twenty-three days.

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