$41,475
Mary Balch School, Providence, Rhode Island, Needlework Sampler, "MARY TALBOTS WORK PROVIDENCE SEPTEMBER 1796," the sampler stitched with silk threads on a linen ground, depicting birds perched atop a broken arch and columns, with cherubs and hearts over the verse "Patience will wipe away the streaming tear/And hope will paint the palid cheek of fear/Content will always happiness supply/And virtue calls a blessing from on high," and a scene centered with a house with an ornate fence surrounded by figures of ladies and gentlemen, animals, and birds perched on trees, flanked by two urns issuing flowering vines highlighted against a black ground, over the lower register stitched with strawberries also set off by a black ground, all above Mary's stitched signature line, 16 1/2 x 14 in. , in a later frame; accompanied by a typed family story titled The Story of BIG HOUSE and its Families (as told by a sampler whose age predates the age of the actual house). Provenance: By family descent of the maker, Mary Talbot. Literature: The sampler is illustrated in Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee , exhibition catalog, curated and written by Betty Ring, published by the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1983, p. 167. Exhibitions: Ye Olde Samplers of Rhode Island, Rhode Island Historical Society, 1920; and the traveling exhibition Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee, the Rhode Island Historical Society, November 1, 1983--January 31, 1984; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 24, 1884--May Read more…
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2012-08-12
