Description
Heaven Is My Hope: An American Sampler of circa 1820
The Scarlet Letter
The title of this unsigned, undated American sampler comes from the verse stitched across the top:
No doubts divert my steady steps aside;
Nor let me long to live, nor dread to die
Heav’n is my hope and providence (sic) my guide.
Probably made in one of the mid Atlantic states around the year 1820, this large, unusual sampler displays a pair of Quaker bird-in-branch motifs at the lower left and right. The crenellated castle-like structure at the lower left appears on at least one other sampler we have seen, from the late 1790’s, made in Danvers, MA. A “crop” of Queen stitched strawberries grows between the castle and a humbler house on the right, fronted by a pasture with sheep and a cow. A Greek Key outer border encloses a deeply undulating multifloral inner border worked in a variety of stitches. On 30 count linen, this reproduction will be approximately the same size as the original sampler.
Linen: 30 count
Finished Size: 25-1/4″x19-3/4″
