Sampler
Maker
Lydia Jane Blauvelt
Periodca. 1840
MediumPlied cotton thread and plied wool thread on natural linen
Dimensions13.25 × 8 in. (33.7 × 20.3 cm)
SignedThe sampler is signed "Lydia Jane Blauvelt / Highstown / New Jer [sey]" along the bottom of the panel.
ClassificationsNeedlework
Credit LineGift of the Estate of Rowena Burtt, 1975
Object number1975.17.1
DescriptionA small rectangular sampler on natural colored gauzy linen in plied cotton thread with an exceptionally tight twist in dark blue, dark dull green, brown, light brown, and tan, and in plied wool thread in olive green and bright red. The sampler's linen panel is narrowly hemmed along the left, bottom, and right edges and retains the selvedge edge along the top. Seven rows of alphabets are worked into the sampler. Beginning at the top in cross stitch, a half-inch upper case alphabet runs from A to L on the first line, M to X on the second, and Y and Z on the third line. Immediately following, worked in box stitch, is a half-inch upper case alphabet from A to J, then H to U on the fourth line and V to Z on the fifth line. Immediately following is a small half-inch lower case alphabet running from a to g, then h through x on the next line. The final line features a large one-inch AEIOUY vowel run. Varied small decorative horizontal spacer bands, worked in cross stitch, straight stitch, and raised box stitch, separate each alphabet line and the two signature lines. At the bottom of the sampler is worked the unfinished signature "Lydia Jane Blauvelt / Highstown / New Jer." Several scattered tiny motifs and stitches are worked in the open space at the bottom right of the linen panel, including two small elements worked in plied wool yarn. A narrow single cross stitch width linear band is worked around all four edges of the sampler.Curatorial RemarksLydia Jane Blauvelt may have been about seven or eight years old when she worked this simple alphabet sampler. Many little girls learned their letters while stitching them onto linen. For unknown reasons, Lydia Jane never finished this sampler, perhaps moving on to a more challenging needlework project. She left her home state as "New Jer," and at least one of the decorative bands is incomplete as well. Small random stitches, including a tiny flower and the beginning of a second worked in wool yarn, are worked in the open space in the lower right corner.NotesLydia Jane Blauvelt, the maker of this simple sampler, was born in May 1832, a daughter of Dr. Charles Cotesworth Blauvelt (1806 - 1855) and Ann Smock (1808 - 1877) of Hightstown, Mercer County. She married first on 29 August 1853 to William H. Johnston (b. ca. 1830) at Trenton, and then second on 28 June 1901 to Samuel Thompson Pullen (1827 - 1920) at South Amboy. The Pullens made their residence at Englishtown, where Lydia died in March 1918 at the age of eighty-five. The funeral was held on 27 March at the home of her daughter, Loretta J. Johnston Chichester (1859 - 1946), at the nearby village of Tennent. Interment took place at Hightstown. Rowena Chichester Burtt (1887 - 1975), whose estate donated the sampler, was a granddaughter of Lydia Jane.
Collections
ProvenanceLydia Jane Blauvelt Johnston (1832 - 1918); to her daughter Loretta J. Johnston Chichester (1859 - 1946); to her daughter Rowena Chichester Burtt (1887 - 1975).
