Joanna Maxwell
Sampler

MakerAmerican, 1782–1847
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Sampler
Date1793
Made inWarren, Rhode Island, United States
MediumSilk on linen
Dimensions16 3/4 × 13 1/4 in. (42.5 × 33.7 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Houston Junior Woman's Club in honor of their forty years of service to Bayou Bend
Object numberB.2009.2
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Mcintire Bedroom
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The history of American samplers begins in 17th-century New England. Consistent with the painting and decorative arts of this period, the designs are virtually indistinguishable from their British counterparts. By the 1720s, regional interpretations can be perceived in the embroideries from Boston, Newport, and Philadelphia. Of these, the most well-known is a group produced in Rhode Island, notably at the school Mary Balch established in Providence about 1782. The formulaic composition that distinguishes this group consists of a domestic or public structure flanked by figures, creatures, and foliage. Often, a verse is incorporated into the sampler, and frequently the scene is framed by paired columnar structures as the perimeter of the sampler is defined by a meandering garland of flowers. 

Closely related to the Balch school needlework is a group of embroideries fashioned in nearby Warren, Rhode Island, under the tutelage of Martha Pease Davis (c. 1743–1806) and dating between 1793 and 1803. This sampler is one of the earliest from this school and is signed by Joanna Maxwell who may have also authored the acrostic verse. Born in 1782, it is known that she was raised in the house built by her grandfather, the Reverend Samuel Maxwell, which today is the Warren Historical Society.


ProvenanceBy descent, the Maxwell family; consigned to [Skinner, Bolton, Massachusetts, October 29, 1988, sale 1222, lot 180]; [Marguerite Riordan, Stonington, Connecticut]; purchased by anonymous owner, by 1989; [Stephen & Carol Huber, Old Saybrook, Connecticut]; purchased by MFAH, 2009.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Stitched in black thread below figures:
"Jesting vain and idle talk avoid /
Over all thy ways let truth preside /
Amidst thy blooming and morning days /
Never forget thy maker to praise /
Noble is that blessed grace within /
Abounding goodness asscrib to him /

Meek unadornd with tinsel lace face (?) /
Attach to virtue and posset with gr[ace] /
Xalt thy makers praise /
Wisdom and truth ever be thy guide /
Engage thy mind and humble thy /
Lenity mercy posses, thy mind (?)prid[e] /
Last in speaking first to be kind"

Stitched in yellow, red, green, black, white, and brown thread in bottom margin:
"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX"

Signed, dated in embroidery: "Joanna Maxwell/ born May the 8/ AD 1782 at Warren/ Wrought at/ Warren/ September/ the 12 A D 1793"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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