Description:
Needlework sampler done in silk embroidery on a plain linen ground, which has the inscription, "Katy Barnard's / Sampler /1793" in a heart-edged cartouche. Katy Barnard (1784-1808), who is listed in Sheldon's "History of Deerfield" as "Catherine" and in the "Vital Records of Deerfield, Massachusetts to the Year 1850" as "Caty," was the daughter of Samuel Barnard (1746-1819) of Deerfield and Abigail Upham (1745-1826) of Brookfield, Massachusetts, who married in 1779. Samuel was a lawyer (known as "Lawyer Sam") in Hampshire County until 1794 when Samuel sold his house on the Barnard family Lot 32 on Main Street, Deerfield, and moved his family moved to Montgomery, Vermont. In 1802, Katy married Horace Janes (1781-1834) of St. Albans, Vermont, the son of Jonathan Janes and Patty Plympton Janes of Brimfield, Massachusetts, who moved to Hartford, Connecticut, and later, St. Albans. Horace and Katy had four children, the last one born on October 1, 1808; Katy died on December 27, 1808. Janes married again twice - Mary Brown (1882-1822) in 1813 and Eunice L. Partridge in 1823. The sampler, which is embroidered in blue, green (2 shades), black, cream, yellow and light brown, has four rows of the alphabet and the numbers 1-0; over a band of diamond shapes; over a large fruit basket flanked by two large white birds facing outward and two small white dogs facing the basket, two flowers and two flower baskets; over two stylized pine trees and a windmill shape flanked by two small stylized fruit trees; over two small white birds and a black lion-like animal in the right corner; and surrounded by a four-sided bud and vine scrolling border. Other samplers with the white dove image are known in the Deerfield area, which represent a large group of needlework made from the 1790s to the early 1830s, which are sometimes referred to as the white dove samplers of the Deerfield area. Characterized by stylized, black-outlined, paired white birds embroidered in cross stitch, fruit and flower baskets arranged in a pyramid, and three-sided border, these samplers appear to have been made at a series of schools in a widespread area of the Connecticut River Valley from Connecticut to Vermont and New Hampshire that passed on that design tradition. Many of these samplers were made by children of prominent families. Although there are some variations, this sampler is considered the second earliest known White Dove sampler; the earliest known sampler dated 1791 (HD 97.003) and the latest known dated 1831 (HD 2008.4.10) are also owned by Historic Deerfield. Formerly L2004.15.
Label Text:
Barnard worked her sampler when she was nine years old. The exclusive use of cross stitch embroidery to form the letters, numbers and decorative elements provided the repetition to prepare Barnard for more advanced projects, both as a student and in her future role as a wife and mother. This example is the second oldest of the museum’s “White Dove” samplers, named for their inclusion of two white birds or doves, outlined in black. Similarities among White Dove samplers suggest that the style can be traced to one or more schoolmistresses in the Deerfield area.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2008.8 |
