Description
From the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia?s earliest identifiable group of samplers made between 1725 and 1740, was worked under the instruction of Elizabeth Marsh (1683-1741?) and her daughter Ann (1717-1797). This sampler appears to have been made under the Marsh tutelage. Many of the pattern bands that Ann worked on her own sampler (dated 1727, and in a private collection) appear almost identically on Elizabeth Hudson?s. Ann was taught by her mother, Elizabeth Marsh, the premier schoolmistress who was instrumental in setting the trends and fashions in Philadelphia?s elegant schoolgirl embroideries. Ann probably began teaching alongside her mother in 1737 or 1738, so either woman could have guided Elizabeth Hudson in the execution of her sampler. Both Marshes were Quaker, and it is interesting to note the similarities between the Marsh-taught samplers and that of Dorcas Haynes, an English Quaker who made her sampler in 1725. The style of the Marsh-taught samplers is often defined by a four-sided, stylized carnation border, around numerous horizontal floral arcaded pattern bands interspersed with pious verses. They employ rich, bold color, and a wide variety of stitches. The lowermost arcaded band encompasses genealogical information about the maker, usually stitched in black silk. Elizabeth Hudson was born in 1722. and died in 1783. Stitches used in her sampler include cross, tent, counted satin, stem, and Queen. The original sampler measures 15-1/2″x11-1/4″. SOME COVET TO BE DECKED IN RICH ATTIRE WITH GOLD AND PEARL THATO THERS, MAY ADMIRE THEM AND HONOR THEM AND THAT THEY MAY ADVANCE A BEAUTY THAT WILL SOON DECAY, IF IMPERFECTIONS DID NOT LODGE WITHIN WHAT MEAN THESE DECKINGS OF THE FADING SKIN, THEY IN WHOSE NOBLE BREAST TRUE VERTUE DWELLS NEED NOT SO MUCH ADORN THEIR OUTWARD SELVESO THOU GREAT KING OF KINGS ARISE AND REIGN EXCEPT THY VERTUE SPRINGS ALL WORSHIPS VAIN EXCEPT THY QUICKNING LIFE BE FELT TO RISE THERES NONE CAN OFFER UP A SACRIFICE THE BED WAS EARTH THE RASED PILLOW STONE WHEREON POOR IACOB RESTED HIS HEAD AND BONES, HEAVEN WAS HIS CANOPY THE SHADES OF NIGHT WAS, HIS DRAWN CURTAINS TO EXCLUDE THE LIGHTPOOR STATE OF IACOB AS IT SEEMS TO ME, HIS CATTLE FOUND AS SOUFT A BED AS HE, YET GOD APPEARED THEIR IOY HIS CROWN, GID IS NOT ALWAYS FOUND IN BEDS OF DOWN, WE ARE IN MISERY AND IN ASHES BORN REMEMBER THIS AS, YOU PASS BY DO NOT DERIDE, BUT PRAY ABIDE WHY FIX YOURE YES, ON THIS LOW GROUND WHERE SORROWS DWELL NO TONGUE CAN TELL.
Reproduced by the Scarlet Letter.
