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Sampler
Mary Collens (English)
English
1794
Object Place: Maidstone, Kent, England
Medium/Technique
Wool plain weave embroidered with silk
Dimensions
43 x 33 cm (16 15/16 x 13 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Estate of J. Chancellor Crafts
Accession Number17.3187
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Fashion and Textiles
ClassificationsTextiles
DescriptionWhite woolen with a dark blue selvedge on each side and a line of dark blue a little inside of the selvedges. The border of an angular vine bearing leaves and pink flowers cut diagonally across the corners. Across the top is the alphabet in both capitals and small letters and numbers from 1-7. Below this is a conventional floral band and "From my Beginning may the Almighty Powers, Blessings bestow in never ceasing showers; Oh may I happy be and always blest, Of every Joy of every Wish possess'd, May plenty dissipate all worldly Cares. And Smiling Peace bless my revolving Years." The upper part is separated from the lower by a border of conventional carnations (?) in profile; in the lower half is a vine arranged so as to enclose a triangular space in which worked with red silk "Mary Collens Maidstone Kent 1794." On the rest of the piece are trees, vases of flowers, flowers, baskets of fruit and a deer, symmetrically arranged. Worked with colored silks. Stitches: cross.
ProvenanceGift of the Estate of J. Chancellor Crafts, through Miss Mary E. Preston to MFA, 1917