Lydia I. Marden's Sampler

Object Details

Marden, Lydia

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.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur M Greenwood

1826-1836

ID Number

TE.E388181

catalog number

E388181

accession 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

See more items in

Home and Community Life: Textiles

Samplers

Textiles

National Museum of American History

Record ID

nmah_649888

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

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