Mary Owen, 1815
Name/Title
Mary Owen, 1815Entry/Object ID
2008.2.2Tags
Alphabet Sampler, Counted-thread embroidery, Embroidery, Misses Martin School, Pictorial needlework, Sampler, Joan Stephens CollectionDescription
The rose-blossom vine border around a central panel with alphabet and Georgian-style house with picket fence in the foreground, centering 8-line text beginning, "When youths soft seasons..." Worked in silk on linen and in a 19th century gold leaf mahogany frame; glazedContext
The pictorial samplers produced in Portland in the early 19th century form one of the most important and appealing of all of the groups of American needlework. These samplers feature solidly worked scenes of mansion houses and smaller buildings and have pleasing verses and alphabets above, all surrounded by prominent borders of large rose-blossoms on leafy vines. They have been the subject of research and writing by Betty Ring and other scholars and examples are included in many major public and private collections. Mary Owen, a 12-year-old attending the highly regarded Misses Martin's in Portland in 1815, worked this tightly composed and executed sampler which has been considered to be one of the important pieces for many years; it was in the Joan Stephens Collection and was researched by Betty Ring as such. This collection was sold at Sotheby's in January of 1997 and this sale is considered to be an important benchmark in establishing both interest in, and values of, schoolgirl samplers. The Misses Martin School, located at the corner of King and Newbury Streets, flourished from 1804 until 1834 and much information about the school was published during that period or later in the 19th century. A list of the young ladies who attended the school, either as boarders or day students, was made available by the three Martin sisters and Mary Owen is listed as a day student. Born October 12, 1802, Mary was the daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Thomes) Owen; according to the accounts of the school, she had died by 1829. Another sampler that bears a very close relationship is that of Mary Ann Morton which was made in 1820. It was in the Theodore Kapnek Colleciton and published as figure 81 in A Gallery of American Samplers by Glee Krueger.Collection
ERS Sampler CollectionCategory
Sampler