Object Name: Sampler
Object ID: 1998.022
Creator: Felt, Irene (1814-1887)
Place of Origin: Nelson, NH
Date: 1827
Description: Sampler. Made by Irene Felt (1814-1887), Nelson, NH; 1827. Silk twist and floss embroidered on loosely woven tan linen, with four alphabets: first, script capitals worked in black cross stitches followed by numbers one through eleven; second, block capitals in blue square stitches, with Y, Z and & on the line above because she ran out of room; third, fancy block capitals in cream cross stitches, with several of the letters repeated; fourth, lower-case letters in black cross stitches. In the lower half of the sampler is cross-stitched a verse in blue: "Blest is the Maid whom circling years imProve, / Her God, the Object of her Warmest love / Whose youthful hours, successive as they glide / The Book, the Needle and the Pen divide." A wide border of a flowering vine is stitched below and to the right of the verse. This vine is worked with surface satin, chain, and cross stitches in silk floss that is now cream and blue, but was originally pink, yellow, and green. At the bottom is the inscription: "Wrought by Irene Felt, Born in Nelson (NH.) July 21 1814, Aged 13." A border of an undulating green line of cross stitches with diamond designs within the curves and a rope design on the inside edge surrounds all four sides of the sampler. The edges are hemstitched.
Material: Textile
Linen
Silk
Dimensions: H-16 W-17.5 inches
Provenance: Mr. and Mrs. Douglas E. Way received the sampler as a bequest from Bertha M. Newcomb (1886-1967) of Gardner, MA. Bertha M. Newcomb was the grand-daughter of Irene Felt's younger sister, Almira Sprague Felt Newcomb Gates (1830-1905). The sampler descended through the Newcomb family.
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas E. Way
People:
Felt, Irene (1814-1887),
Newcomb, Bertha M. (1886-1967)