Sampler

Maker Susanna Marson

Period1779

MediumPlied silk thread on linen

Dimensions9.75 × 7.63 in. (24.8 × 19.4 cm)

SignedThe sampler is signed and dated "Susanna Marson / Is my name 1779."

ClassificationsNeedlework

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Julia Hartshorne Trask, 1946

Object number2084.46

DescriptionA small rectangular sampler on open weave brown linen, with a selvedge along the bottom edge and narrow hems along the left, top, and right edges. The embroidery is in plied silk thread in black, medium brown, golden brown, pine green, cerulean blue, soft brick red, pale pink, pale yellow, and off white worked entirely in cross stitch. The sampler is unfinished, with the majority of the linen unworked. Along the top of the sampler is the inscription "SUSANNA MARSON / IS MY NAME 1779." Small individual motifs are used as spacers, including a heart on either side of the second inscription line. Below the inscription is centered an elaborate basket with a pyramidal fruit arrangement on which a pair of blue and white birds perch. On either side of the basket are spotted leopards with waving tails. Centered within the lower half of the linen panel is a short numeral run, from 1 to 9, followed by an "X." Above are two white sheep with black hooves. A single cross stitch band runds horizontally above and below the numeral run. The left, top, and right sides are edged with a single cross stitch band in blue.
Curatorial RemarksIf the identification of the sampler's maker is correct, Yorkshire resident Susanna Marson was eight years old when she stitched her needlework. Although unfinished, Susanna was well on her way to honing her embroidery skills. The two animals flanking the central fruit basket appear to be leopards, with spotted coats and long wavy tails. They resemble those in several other English samplers of the same general time period. Incomplete samplers offer interesting clues as to the planning and implementation process. Susanna may have planned to add other small motifs above and around the sheep and numbers. The bottom portion of the sampler is divided by a row of cross stitching, and a short verse or an alphabet sequence may have been intended for that space.NotesThe sampler may have been worked by Susanna Marson of Nafferton, Yorkshire, England. She was born on 1 May 1771, a daughter of Richard Marson (1722 - 1794) and Mary Haggard (1722- 1759). Susanna married at Nafferton on 4 August 1792 to William Milner (1772 - 1806). They became the parents of ten children. The 1841 England census lists her as living in Skyrack Hundred, Bingley Parish, Yorkshire, age seventy, with Sarah and Ann Milner, ages forty and thirty respectively.

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