Sampler

Maker Hannah E. Dutton

Period1839

MediumPlied wool thread on lightweight linen

Dimensions20.25 × 17.38 in. (51.4 × 44.1 cm)

SignedThe sampler is signed and dated "Hannah E. Dutton. 1839."

ClassificationsNeedlework

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Julia Hartshorne Trask, 1946

Object number2084.19

DescriptionA rectangular sampler of lightweight, closely woven linen with selvedge edges along the left and right edges, and narrow hems along the top and bottom edges. The sampler includes a wide variety of brightly colored fine plied wool threads in black, dark green, light olive green, pale green, sky blue, pale blue, brick red, scarlet, rose, coral, pale pink, russet, purple, lilac, light orange, lemon yellow, and white all worked in tent stitch. At the top, bottom, left and right, as mirror images, are large central ovoid floral sprays. In all four corners are floral sprays that depict poinsettias and pansies. In the upper half of the sampler, a large floral and foliate wreath encircles a pair of mirror image pale blue birds. Between the top floral motif and the wreath are placed two robed classical female figures, two perching birds, and a small central floral basket. Below the wreath are two fluttering butterflies above a small landscape scene that depicts a small cottage, trees, and a snow-covered mountain in the distance. A tiny female figure in the right foreground kneels beside a small monument or tombstone surmounted by a cross. Flanking the landscape scene are two bee skeps surrounded by buzzing bees.
Curatorial RemarksThis sampler is attributed to sixteen-year-old Hannah E. Dutton, who lived in the town of Hartford in Windsor County, Vermont. Her home town had the benefit of location, with three rivers - the Connecticut, Otta Quechee, and White - providing both industrial power as well as transportation avenues to its residents. Along with grist and saw mills, Hartford's early woolen mills were highly successful, and it may well be the reason Hannah Dutton was able to work her beautifully designed sampler in such a wide range of fine wool yarns. Although it is not known where - or if - Hannah received a formal education, the date of 1839 on her sampler coincides with the opening of the Hartford Academy, a local short-lived institution which by 1848 had been absorbed into the County's developing public school system. An early example of the Berlin wool work embroidery style, Hannah's sampler used a relatively lightweight linen fabric as her base panel. The majority of Berlin needlework pieces were worked on sturdier canvas as it better suited the heavier wool threads. Commercially printed patterns, available in the United States as early as the late 1820s, showed designs on a gridded chart, making it easy to follow. Hannah Dutton, perhaps using patterns from her unknown teacher, combined individual motifs to produce her accomplished and well-balanced sampler.NotesThe girl who stitched this sampler in 1839 may be Hannah E. Dutton of Hartford, Windsor County, Vermont. She was born on 16 August 1823, the third of six children of Oliver Dutton (1792 - 1878) and Arethusa Farnham (1797 - 1882). About 1850, Hannah married Jackson D. Metcalf (1817 - 1885), a farmer. They became the parents of three sons and a daughter. The Metcalfs first resided in Chelsea, Orange County, Vermont, but by 1870 had relocated to nearby Brookfield. Hannah died on 19 June 1901 at the age of seventy-seven years and 10 months. She was interred in the West Hill Cemetery at Chelsea.

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