Description
Dorothy Walpole 1744: An Irish Quaker Sampler
The Scarlet Letter
Dorothy Walpole was born in New Garden in the Painestown Parish of Carlow, Ireland. On August 25th, 1794, she married Christopher Williams also of New Garden which was home to a large Quaker community. Where Dorothy worked her sampler is not known but it seems likely she attended a small private school in the locality. Certainly her family owned land in the area and enjoyed a reasonably comfortable lifestyle. Embroidered on unbleached linen this beautiful band sampler employs Florentine, cross, petit point, queen, herringbone and counted satin stitches. It is divided into sections within a simple strawberry border comprising alphabets in a variety of stitches, a four line verse, a wide band of Florentine work and flowers on curling stems with the petals dramatically outlined. On 40 count linen the reproduction sampler will measure approximately 9″ x 24″ and most closely approximates the size of the original.
