Samplers On-Line @ Brooklyn Museum, New York

Brooklyn Museum in New York has its sampler collection on-line for you to view. There are 28 pieces in the collection, though not all have an image. I was particularly taken by this simple cloth which reminds me of a good friend. It was worked by Harriet Judson in Hillsdale in 1807. I wonder if some of those letter forms aren't Irish in descent. 

The cloth above is lovely and I can't help thinking that its all-over designs aren't earlier that the 19th century label it has been given. The provenance is American, but the pattern sources are European.

Last but certainly not least is Eliza Swinborn's Ackworth School sampler of 1803. Eliza was a scholar at Ackworth School from 1802-1805 and travelled to Ackworth from Bromley in Kent. To see more of Brooklyn Museum samplers, click here.