Sampler by Mary Best

Date1693 (dated) (Cut apart & framed in the 18th c.)

Artist/Maker Mary Best

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 52 x 54 threads per inch (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsSampler: OW: 8 1/4" X OH: 16 1/2"; Framed: OW: 10 3/4" X OH: 19"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1955-46

DescriptionThis framed band sampler is the top half of a seventeenth-century sampler made by Mary Best in 1693. It features geometric floral borders; bird and acorn borders on either side of large Tudor rose (of raised work); other wide and narrow borders, all in colored silks on natural tabby-woven linen canvas, worked primarily in several cross stitches, satin and detached needle lace.

Stitches: bullion knots, buttonhole, chain, cross, detached buttonhole, detached needle lace and other needle lace, double running, eyelet, French knots, four-sided, long-arm cross, marking cross, running and satin stitch
Label TextThis seventeenth-century band sampler is the top half of a sampler that began life as one long sampler in 1693. It features decorative and floral bands, along with an undulating band of Tudor roses worked in detached buttonhole stitches.Inscription(s)NoneMark(s)NoneProvenanceOnce a single sampler later cut apart and framed.