Description:
Needlework sampler embroidered by Jerusha West (1795-1889) of Hadley, Massachusetts. West's silk embroidery retains its vibrant palette in eight colors (two shades of green, two shades of blue, plus yellow, brown/tan, pink, and off-white). Primarily embroidered in cross stitch, other embroidery stitches used include satin and two rows of a whip stitch or canvas stitch. All the embroidery is worked on a balanced, open weave, and unbleached linen ground that is roughly 25 tpi/epi. Historic Deerfield owns another sampler made in Hadley; Abigail Cook identified her sampler (96.002) as being worked at Miss Polina Sellon's school, in 1825. Cook's and West's samplers each contain similar motifs, including a crown-like design, stepped border, and overall densely-packed canvas, suggesting that West, too, worked her sampler at Sellon's school, or perhaps under a former Sellon student who, 21 years later, opened her own academy. On West's example, there are three upper case alphabets (one is in cursive lettering), plus one lower case alphabet. All three upper case alphabets omit either the letters H or I, but the lower case is complete. The piece also contains the numbers 1 through 9, plus 0. A diamond-shaped cartouche at the bottom reads "Jerusha/ west/ 1804." West may not have finished her sampler; the top cross-stitched border was started in two different colors at the top corners, but does not extend across. By the late 18th century, samplers were intergral tools for the instruction of young ladies within academies of the New Republic. Through the repetition of embroidery stitches like cross stitch, young women learned important needlework skills to continue in their future roles as adult, married women. Instructors and academies could employ characteristic motifs or forms in their students' work, which helps to group needlework at times into regional variations. Jerusha West was born on April 22, 1795. She was the youngest of 12 children born to Daniel (1741-1795) and Mercy (nee Clarke) West, who moved to Hadley, Massachusetts, from New London County, Connecticut, by 1770. On November 16, 1816, West married Judah Taylor (1791-1844) of Ashfield, Massachusetts. The couple had six children, including sons Daniel and Henry. Jerusha was buried in Hill Cemetary in Ashfield.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2019.12 |
