Description
The Boscobel Oak
The Scarlet Letter
An English Band Sampler of the 1660’s from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England. Worked almost entirely in double running and running stitches, this unusual band sampler manages to incorporate lessons in needlework with politics and English history. The large oak tree in the lower-most panel contains three gold crowns, an obvious reference to the oak tree in the grounds of Boscobel House in Shropshire where Charles II was hidden after fleeing the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The local people assisted him in his escape, which explains the figure of the hunter saluting the tree. The mansion and formal garden in the upper third appear in some fashion on at least three other dated English samplers; Frances Cheyney’s of 1663 in the Burrell Collection, Elizabeth Sexton’s of 1660 now in a private collection, and Margret Mason’s of 1660 in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Linen count and finished size: 35-count hand-dyed, 11″ x 33″
