Sampler

Maker Anna Hartshorn

Period1806

MediumPlied and unplied silk thread on linen

Dimensions11.63 × 18.13 in. (29.5 × 46 cm)

SignedThe sampler is signed and dated "Anna Hartshorn Born / February 6 1776 Wilton Auguft [sic] 4th A.D. 1806."

ClassificationsNeedlework

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Julia Hartshorne Trask, 1946

Object number2084.29

DescriptionAn elongated rectangular sampler of plied silk thread on natural loose weave linen in dark green, blue green, brown, sky blue, tan, and oyster white. Stitches include cross, queen, Algerian eyelet, satin, French knot, and stem. A half-inch upper case alphabet is worked in the first row from A to O, with several letters worked multiple times. The second row includes O through Z, with an ampersand and an additional letter Q as spacers. A half-inch lower case alphabet runs on the third row, from a through z, with an ampersand and a double scroll motif as spacers. On the fourth row, a numeral run from 1 through 9 and 0 is followed by "Anna Hartshorn Born" with a small stylized floral spray as an end spacer. The inscription continues on the fifth row with "February 6 1776 Wilton Auguft [sic] 4th A.D. 1806. A verse, faint and very much faded, follows on the next four rows and reads "How blest the maid whom circling years improve / How God the object of her warmest love / Whose useful hours, successive as her guide / The book, the needle, and the pen divide." A small spray of flowers atop a basket is worked along the right side as spacing for the verse's uneven line endings. Below the floral spray runs a horizontal band of Queen stitching. Another alphabet is worked in the row below the verse, in a half-inch upper case italic, from A through Z. Along the bottom portion of the sampler runs a large one-inch upper case alphabet, worked in pale blue silk thread which appears to have been untwisted and used as flat silk, from A through N. A wide band of nodding floral sprays run along the bottom of the sampler. A border of blue and white cross stitch with offset dark green Algerian eyelets edges all for sides of the sampler. The linen panel retains a selvedge edge along the left and right, with narrow hems along the top and bottom.
Curatorial RemarksAnna Hartshorn was ten years old when she finished her sampler in the beginning of August 1806. She worked hard on her needlework, and repeated several letters multiple times in order to practice spacing and correct form. For the final large alphabet worked along the bottom of the sampler, Anna appears to have used plied silk thread, but untwisted it and used it as flat silk. On close inspection, the silk fibers have the kinked or "frizzled" appearance indicating this procedure. The sampler's design includes the lively bunches of flowers along the bottom and the striking checkerboard effect of her border. Anna included the somewhat old-fashioned long "s" in "August," which by the turn of the nineteenth century was considered outmoded. The verse she selected appears on samplers dated as early as 1771. It is cited in Ethel Stanwood Bolton and Eva Johnston Coe, American Samplers (Boston: The Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1921), 331.NotesAs stated on her sampler, Anna Hartshorn was born on 6 February 1796 in Wilton, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. She was a daughter of Samuel Hartshorn (1760 - 1847) and Mary Gray (1757 - 1841). On 11 April 1820, she married at Wilton to William Parker (1790 - 1859). They became the parents of eight children. Anna died in Boston, Massachusetts, of pneumonia on 13 October 1887 at the age of ninety-one. Her remains were brought back to Wilton for interment in Laurel Hill Cemetery.

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