Mary Akin
Sampler

Public Domain

ExpandFavorite

Images(3)

Maker Mary Akin (American, 1700–after 1749)American, 1700–after 1749

CultureAmerican

Titles

Sampler

Date1715

Made inNewport, Rhode Island, United States

MediumSilk on linen

Dimensions19 × 8 1/4 in. (48.3 × 21 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Bayou Bend Docent Organization in memory of Michael K. Brown

Object numberB.2014.1

Not on view

Explore Further

Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

TEXTILES

DescriptionIn this nation’s Colonial years, needlework, deportment, reading, and writing were the principal subjects of young women’s early education—in that order of importance. The sampler proposed here was completed by 15-year-old Mary Akin in 1715 and is the earliest known piece of needlework to survive from Newport, as well as being the first identifiable of any made in a leading American urban center. This example provides the first clearly recognizable regional sampler style in Colonial America. The dominant design elements include bands of large arcaded flowers, flanked by sometimes religious, always moralistic verses. Mary Akin was born in 1700, daughter of James Akin and Eliphal Sanford who by ensuring their daughter’s education, hoped to ensure a successful marriage, family, and a position in polite society. In 1736, Mary married William Corey, and, in an amazing coincidence, the couple would own an iconic silver cream pot by Boston silversmith Jacob Hurd now in the Bayou Bend Collection (B.69.112). If acquired, it would complement the silver vessel and two other Rhode Island samplers in the collection.
ProvenanceMary Akin; [...]; inherited by Miss Alice Henderson, great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Mary Akin, Washington, DC; [...]; [Bonhams, San Francisco, 2004]; purchased by [M. Finkel & Daughter, Philadelphia]; purchased by [Joyce and Bill Subjack, Neverbird Antiques, Surrey, Virginia]; purchased by MFAH, 2014.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q / R S T […] W […] X Y Z […] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 / BEHOLD AND HAVE REGARd YE / SERVANTS OF THE LORD […] / […] HIS HOUSE BY N / IGHT DO […] PRAISE HIM / WITH ONE ACCORD LIFT UP / YOUR HANDS ON HIGH WITH UNTO / HIS HOLY PLACE GIVE THE / LORD HIS PRAISES DUE HIS […] / […]IN EVERY / LAND THERE NONE SHALL […] / […] BUT / ONLY THOSE WHOME GOD […] / CHOSEN […] CHIRST JESUS / MARY AKIN / 1715

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.