Embroidered Sampler 1798

Curator: What a delicate piece! This is an embroidered sampler completed in 1798 by Priscilla T. Glover, now held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: My immediate reaction is a sense of quietude. The subdued tones and repetitive nature of the stitching suggest patience, domesticity, and the limitations placed on young women. Curator: Absolutely. We have to remember the labor involved. This wasn't just about aesthetics. It was about skill acquisition, a display of competency with needlework. Look closely at the variety of stitches employed – it demonstrates Priscilla's technical mastery of this fiber art. Editor: And what’s fascinating to me is situating this piece within a historical and social context. We know from the inscription that Priscilla was only thirteen when she made this. What was expected of young girls in late 18th-century America? This sampler functions as both an act of self-expression and a testament to prescribed roles, wouldn't you say? The needle was her tool but also perhaps her cage. Curator: That’s insightful. And look at the materials themselves. The linen, the silk threads—these were commodities shaped by global trade networks. Even a seemingly simple piece like this speaks to larger economic structures. The labor wasn't only Priscilla's; it encompasses the farmers growing the flax, the silk producers... a whole chain of production. Editor: And beyond just the means of making it and its reflection of that time’s social fabric, consider the verse she’s stitched. There's a strong emphasis on virtue, godliness, and usefulness. We can analyze it through a feminist lens as representative of internalized expectations and a yearning for some means of external approval and accomplishment outside domestic life. Curator: True. It embodies that tension beautifully—the personal aspiration channelled into socially approved expression through meticulously applied needlework. The craftsmanship also suggests a very intentional process – a great deal of consideration in the planning, application, and material considerations Editor: It’s a compelling testament to both constraint and creativity. Even in mastering such constrained conditions there is artfulness in design, color, and intention of pattern. It's a layered document. Curator: Indeed, analyzing both its materiality and its place in social history allows us a richer, more textured appreciation. Editor: Exactly, it serves as both a document of women's history, and as a work in its own right.