A RUTHY ROGERS RUTHY ROGERS www.scarlet-letter.com DOÑA DOROTHEA GAZANO y GARCIA LATE 18TH-EARLY 19TH CENTURIES MASSACHUSETTS Ruthy Rogers’s bewitching composition features a piquant wasp-waisted, floral-crowned figure amid giant blossoms and curious birds. Unfettered by instructive alphabets or pious maxims, it suggests a happy schoolroom of little girls guided by a cheerful and imaginative schoolmistress. This sampler represents one of four fascinating forms that emerged in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, but which eluded the recognition of collectors and scholars throughout most of the twentieth century until an appealing piece by Betsy Gail appeared at auction in 1980. It featured a winsome figure in profile, much like another in a then unpublished 1789 sampler by Hannah Stacy. Both the Gail and Stacy families have been traced to Marblehead, and the recognition of Marblehead’s exceptional samplers grew quickly. The Marblehead samplers are now attributed to schoolmistress Martha Tarr Barber (1734-1812), although few specific facts about her teaching have been found. She evidently commenced keeping school after having become a widow for the second time in 1780. Eventually the Barber school spanned the entire Federal period, for Martha’s youngest daughter, Miriam, born in 1775, became her mother’s assistant and continued teaching until her death in 1830. Ruthy Rogers was the daughter of Marblehead tailor William Rogers (1747-1835) and Ruth Vickery (1751- ?). She married shipmaster Benjamin Andrews Jr (1775-1821) on June 28, 1799, and died of consumption on May 4, 1812, at age 34. She was survived by three of their five children. Her husband married Mary L. Smith of Salem on November 25, 1812, and one of their three sons lived to adulthood. Captain Andrews drowned off Sumatra “by Overseting the Boat.” Stitches used in Ruthy’s sampler are cross, stem filling, Queen, outline and counted satin. ADVANCED 35-count linen — 9 1/2"x13 1/2" Kit with cotton floss—$74.00 Kit with silk floss—$120.00 Graph only—$22.00 B DOÑA DOROTHEA GAZANO y GARCIA Whether this is a Spanish, Mexican or Guatemalan sampler is uncertain but it exhibits design characteristics of all these cultures including the oblong shape as well as the pattern bands worked in a variety of stitches. The attribution “De Mano De Doña Dorothea Gazano y Garcia” is suggestive of a Spanish origin since she provides the surnames of both her father (Gazano) and her mother (Garcia). This line translates as “from the hand of” (i.e., made by). The title Doña is an honorific that is used with a first name to indicate a woman of aristocratic birth or who is deserving of respect for age and/or wisdom. The checkerboard stag in the upper right appears on several Mexican samplers in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The naturalistic Berlin style floral bands in the third register date this piece to post 1830. The alphabets on the sampler vary and have some tales to tell. The first alphabet begins with the letter A and runs through J, L, M, N, Ñ (again) … U, V, X, Y, Z. This is a Spanish alphabet: there is no letter K nor letter W, and the Ñ is also included. The second alphabet includes the letter K, but omits the letter W. Words with the letters K or W in Spanish are not unknown, but are all loan words from other languages. Traditional symbolic motifs include the stags, cockerels, ewes, and the crowned lion. The crowned lion is a symbol that appears frequently not just on Spanish samplers but also on the Spanish flag, coat of arms, coins, etc. It makes its appearance beginning with Isabel I who, when she married Ferdinand of Aragon in the 15th century, united the historic kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. Isabel was from Castilla-Leon: the crowned lion symbolizes the kingdom of Leon (meaning “lion”). Not surprisingly a castle (castilla) is also depicted on the flag. The structure in the upper left of this sampler appears to be a church. The Greek key motif in the lower right of the sampler appears on many other Spanish samplers. Stitches used are cross, back, and counted satin. The original sampler is in a private collection. INTERMEDIATE 30-count linen — 19 1/2" x14" Kit with cotton floss—$90.00 Kit with silk floss—$150.00 Graph only—$22.00 MARY WILLIAMS DOROTHY WALPOLE JANET BURNET COMING IN 2012 HANNAH CARTER Boston, circa 1748 PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILS C MARY WILLIAMS E DOROTHY WALPOLE 1804 • AN IRISH SAMPLER It’s rare to find family groups of samplers particularly those which span more than one generation. This sampler is one of a rare group of Irish samplers providing a tangible record of the education received by Mary’s mother, Dorothy Walpole, in 18th century Ireland and passed on to her daughters at a Quaker school in the next county over from where she lived with her husband, Christopher Williams. Dorothy Walpole’s two daughters worked their samplers at a school in Mountrath in the County Laois between 1804 and 1809. Mary’s sampler shows evidence of the development of needleworking skills at their Quaker school, but it also enforces the belief that map samplers were often the final task worked by young women at such a school. This reproduction of one of Mary’s first samplers clearly illustrates the Quaker influence. The verses she used derive from Isaac Watts, a perennial favorite, and an anonymous publication titled “Poetical Frenzy, or a Venture in Rhyme,” a piece named ENTHUSIASM. BEGINNING 35-count linen — 12 1/2" x15 1/2" Kit with cotton floss—$56.00 Kit with silk floss—$90.00 Graph only—$17.00 1774 • AN IRISH SAMPLER Dorothy Walpole was born in New Garden in the Painestown Parish of Carlow, Ireland. On August 25th, 1794, she married Christopher Williams also of New Garden which was home to a large Quaker community. Where Dorothy worked her sampler is not known, but it seems likely she attended a small private school in the locality. Certainly her family owned land in the area and enjoyed a reasonably comfortable lifestyle. Embroidered on unbleached linen, this beautiful band sampler employs Florentine, cross, petit point, queen, herringbone and counted satin stitches. It is divided into sections within a simple strawberry border comprising alphabets in a variety of stitches, a four-line verse, a wide band of Florentine work and flowers on curling stems with the petals dramatically outlined. (See also the sampler by her daughter, Mary Williams.) We can substitute the linen to any thread count that you prefer, for an additional fee which will vary according to the linen specified (please call or email [email protected] for substitutions). INTERMEDIATE 40-count linen — 9"x 24" Kit with cotton floss—$90.00 Kit with silk floss—$145.00 Graph only—$22.00 D JANET BURNET 1830 Displaying the traditional color scheme of Scottish samplers, this beautiful and delicately stitched piece also employs a variety of interesting counted thread stitches including queen, double-running, four-sided, back, counted satin filling, cross, Algerian eyelet, and cross over one (petit point). Initials of family members appear after the alphabets in the upper reserve. The name M. Gowan after the attribution at the bottom most likely refers to Janet’s teacher. The maze and carnations above this hark back to seventeenth century samplers. INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED 35-count linen — 11" x 14 1/4" Kit with Cotton Floss—$64.00 Kit with Silk Floss—$110.00 Graph Only—$20.00 F A NEW ENGLAND SAMPLER GREEN LINSEY WOOLSEY, Frida P.O. BOX 397 SULLIVAN WI 53178 CIRCA 1810 Few samplers were stitched on this unusual dark green linsey woolsey fabric that combines linen and wool to create a dramatic dark background color to highlight brightly colored floss. Most of these samplers were made in the coastal towns of Massachusetts up to New Hampshire. Surrounded by a Greek key border, this unsigned sampler begins with a classic Quaker-style alphabet, A through Z, executed in cross stitch, followed by another in eyelet stitch, the next in rice stitch followed by an alphabet in four-sided stitch. Below the alphabets is a jumble of flowering plants and a bird. Two groups of initials flank the eyelet stitched letters WXYZ, which could represent initials of the maker’s maternal and paternal family members. The initials on the left side are DS, PS, NC, MC, SC, MC, and on the right they are JF, EF, PF, DC, SS, and LS. This sampler could easily be adapted to include your own family’s initials. The original sampler is in the collection of The Scarlet Letter. ANY SKILL LEVEL Green linsey woolsey — 14"x18" Kit with cotton floss—$62.00 Kit with silk floss—$85.00 Graph & linen (NO floss)—$40.00 Graph only—$18.00 BOOKS AUTOPSY OF THE MONTENEGRIN STITCH: EXHUMED by Amy Mitten Amy has removed both the mystery and the mayhem for those of us who love to reproduce samplers, embroider costumes and approach new and daring needlework challenges. This new and expanded edition includes larger, clearer stitch diagrams, and has a coil binding allowing the book to fold back for easy reference as you stitch. 112 pages, $36.00 collected and restored a magnificent group of fine early needleworks. This book contains superb, detailed photography of part of their collection, and inside the jacket there is a graph of a 17th century band sampler from the collection. Hardbound, 215 pages, $85.00 SAMPLERS AND DESIGNS: THREE CENTURIES OF EUROPEAN SAMPLERS by Mootz and Hundt The book is 144 pages. 44 samplers are photographed THE NEEDLEWORK for the book, with 16 COLLECTION: 1 charted. There are 8 large by Micheál & sheets folded into the pocket Elizabeth Feller Over several decades Mich- which contain the graphs. SAMPLER eál and Elizabeth Feller have $65.00. WORKBOOK: MOTIFS & PATTERNS by Caroline Vincent This design sourcebook $0.00 to $14.99 . . . . .$6.00 contains motifs and patterns derived from traditional $15.00 to $25.99 . . . .$7.00 Shipping themes, together with origRates within $30.00 to $46.99 . . .$9.00 inal designs by the author. Patterns for a range of subContinental $47.00 to $65.99 . . .$11.00 jects include animals, birds, $66.00 to $85.99 . . .$13.00 USA buildings, trees, figures, $86.00 to $129.99 . .$15.00 flowers and borders, pre$130.00 to $199.99 .$20.00 sented in graph form with Over $200.00: Special Quote Required some stitched examples. The book is presented to appeal to a variety of skill If you have ordered items that don’t weigh much such as silk floss, the cost of shipping will be adjusted accordingly. levels. Softbound, 128 pages. $26.00 PRINT CATALOGUE: $15.00 (DOMESTIC) — $25.00 (OVERSEAS) THE WEBSITE IT KEPT CURRENT. PLEASE NOTE THAT PRICES ARE ALWAYS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. www.scarlet-letter.com Email: [email protected] CONNECTICUT NEEDLEWORK: WOMEN, ART, AND FAMILY, 1740–1840 by Susan P. Schoelwer Masterworks from the extraordinary needlework collections of the Connecticut Historical Society. Connecticut women have long been noted for their creation of colorful and distinctive needlework, including samplers and family registers, bed rugs and memorial pictures, crewel-embroidered bed hangings and garments, silk embroidered pictures of classical or religious scenes, quilted petticoats and bedcovers, and whitework dresses and linens. This volume offers the first regional study, encompassing the full range of needle arts produced prior to 1840. Seventy entries showcase more than one hundred fascinating examples—many never before published— from the Connecticut Historical Society’s extensive collection of this early American art form. Produced almost exclusively by women and girls, the needle arts provide an illuminating vantage point for exploring early American women’s history and education, including family-based traditions predating the establishment of formal academies after the American Revolution. Extensive genealogical research reveals unseen family connections linking various types of needlework, similar to the multi-generational male workshops documented for other artisan trades, such as woodworking or metalsmithing. Photographs of stitches, reverse sides, sketches, design sources, and related works enhance understanding and appreciation of this fragile art form and the talented women who created it. Softbound $30, hardbound $60 (limited supply).