Description:
Needlework sampler done in silk embroidery on a plain linen ground, which is inscribed "Amanda Amsden" in a shaped reserve with 6 "+" shapes on the top and bottom, and flanked by diamond-shaped reserves with the numbers 1-0 over "y z" on the right side. In its only reference to Amanda Amsden (1781-1860), "The History of the Town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, from its Settlement in 1742-1910" notes that "Miss Amanda Smith and others lived in the house owned by the Smiths." Amanda Amsden was probably one of the daughters of Asahel Amsden (1741-1797), who had been born in Deerfield and moved to Ashfield, and Mary Ward Amsden (1745-1802) who married in 1768. It is probable that Amanda never married, and later lived with her niece, Jerusha Montague (1797-1835), the daughter of her older sister, Jerusha Amsden (1773-1819) who married Ebenezer Montague (1768-1809) in 1793. Jerusha Montague married Justus Smith (1790-1846) of Ashfield in 1820, and named her daughter, Amanda (1821-1822). The sampler has the alphabet in capital and script letters on letters framed in a box shape with the final script "Y" and "Z" below the box, surrounded by flower sprays alternating with fruit baskets around three sides of the border. See also mourning embroidery to Asahel and Mary Amsden (HD 2006.32.1) made by Amanda Amsden and the cutwork silhouette (HD 2006.34.1) of Amanda.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Linen; polychrome; Silk Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2006.32.2 |
