Name/Title
Susanna Meyer, 1787, Dresden-work SamplerEntry/Object ID
2022.7.1Tags
Counted-thread embroidery, Embroidery, Hollie Work, Pulled thread, Whitework, Dresden-workDescription
The sampler with pulled work vase with the field filled with climbing vines and flowers. Along the bottom is a drawn-work section with the needle-woven inscription, "Hanna Meyer Her Work/1787. The entire is bordered by ruched silk ribbon.Context
This sampler is one of a small group created in Philadelphia during the second half of the eighteenth century. Known as Dresden-work samplers, they are made of white linen decorated with white drawnwork and needlepoint-lace insertions.Pulled thread embroidery was called Dresden work in the eighteenth century. While modern embroideries consider pulled thread an embroidery technique (the lacey effect is achieved by pulling counted stitches tightly to create enlarged holes in the fabric), Dresden work produced by professional embroiderers was classified as a lace in the eighteenth century.
"The most unique samplers produced in America are the Dresden-work samplers made in Philadelphia during the second half of the eighteenth century, since their floral patterns appear to have neither foreign nor American counterparts. They were evidently preceded by lacy cut-work samplers, which were also peculiar to this region in America, although they were widely worked in Europe. Whether English or German teachers originated the fashion for white-work samplers in Philadelphia remains unknown, but they reflect the influence of much earlier European sampler embroidery..."Dresden work" is better understood than many of the obsolete terms describing techniques from the eighteenth century, since it has been consistently applied to drawn work in which no threads are removed and the design is created by pulling the ground material with embroidery stitches...Eighteenth century American examples of this delicate work survive particularly in garments, especially infant clothing, except for samplers from Philadelphia..." A similar sampler by Mary Jones/1795 is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, bequest of Barbara Schiff Sinauer, and is illustrated on p. 353, fig. 372, Another close counterpart is initialed and dated E F 1795 (Art Institute of Chicago). Excerpted from Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, Volume II, New York, 1993, p. 344-353. Literature: Margaret B. Schiffer, Historical Needlework of Pennsylvania, New York, 1968, p. 31 Exhibition: West Chester, Pennsylvania, The Chester County Historical Society, 1976; Plymouth, Massachussetts, Pilgrim Hall, A Special Destiny, Women in America: 1750-1815, June 29, 1976- June 15, 1977, traveling.Collection
ERS Sampler CollectionMade/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Susanna MeyerAttribution
Attributed to Philadelphia Dresden-work samplersRole
EmbroidererDate made
1787Time Period
18th CenturyPlace
City
Philadelphia, PAContinent
North AmericaInscription/Signature/Marks
Type
InscriptionLocation
Along the bottomTranscription
Susanna Meyer Her WorkLanguage
EnglishMaterial/Technique
Fine linenType
InscriptionLocation
Beneath her name inscribed at the bottomTranscription
1787Language
EnglishMaterial/Technique
Fine linenLexicon
Getty AAT
Concept
eighteenth century BCE, needle lace, samplers (embroidery)Hierarchy Name
EmbroideryDimensions
Dimension Description
SightHeight
22-3/4 inWidth
21-1/4 in
