Description:
Needlework sampler done in silk embroidery on a plain linen ground with the inscription, "Martha D. Barrett Ae. 8. Deerfield. Sept. 1802." Martha D. Barrett (1794-1804) was the daughter of John Barrett (1786-1816) and Martha Dickinson Barrett (b.1761) of Northfield, Massachusetts, who married in 1790. This sampler came with an embroidered Family Register (HD 95.030.2) done by Martha's older sister, Elizabeth E. Barrett (1792-1814). The sampler has five rows of alphabet in upper and lower case letters and script, and the numbers 1-10 with each group divided by embroidered line of scallops, chain and flowers. There are twelve lines of verse in the center: "Where nature sheds her beauties rare / O'er tree, shrub, plant, and gay parterre, / Mark how the bee employs each hour, / Extracting sweets from every flower, / So education's sweets are shed, / Along the path which youth must tread. / Then gentle Maid, while youth shall last, / E'er the gay morn of life is past, / Select each sweet with care and art, / To store the head and mend the heart. / So in the saddest hour you'l find. / A rich resource within your mind.." The botton has 5 rows of green cross stitch with a band of two pine trees, dogs, birds, and flower baskets. The sampler is framed on three sides of trailing vine and flowers (1 1/2" wide), and a 1/4" hem outside border on all 4 sides. The stylized flowers and trees and three-sided border reflect other samplers from Deerfield area.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+95.030.1 |
