Lydia I. Marden's Sampler

Description:

This sampler features a monument, rendered in perspective, flanked by two small trees and a flowering plant. On the top of the sampler is the inscription:

“So fadef[s] the
lovely blooming
flower

Cut of in lifef[s]
erlief[s]t hour.”

On the monument is the inscription:

“In Memory
of
Sarah Pervier
who died 16th
of April 1826
aged 8 monthf[s]”

The monument represents death and Lydia’s inscription on the top comes from two different sources. The first line is by Anne Steele (1716-1778) from a poem entitled “On the Death of a Child” and the second line is from a hymn that is part of the Catholic liturgy for the feast of Holy Innocents (December 28). The sampler is stitched with silk and cotton embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 44, weft 44/ in. The stitches used are cross, satin, chain, and detached chain.

Nothing is known about the life of Lydia Marden.

Date Made: 1826-1836

Maker: Marden, Lydia

Location: Currently not on view

See more items in: Home and Community Life: Textiles, Samplers, Textiles

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur M Greenwood

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: TE.E388181Catalog Number: E388181Accession Number: 182022

Object Name: sampler

Physical Description: silk (embroidery thread material)linen (ground material)brown (overall color)grey-green (overall color)black (overall color)pink (overall color)tan ground (overall color)embroidery (overall production method/technique)Measurements: overall: 8 3/4 in x 6 3/8 in; 22.225 cm x 16.1925 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a4-b5ae-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_649888

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