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ANN MEDD 1742 |
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This is a most unusual sampler, without
precedent, ambitious almost beyond comprehension, the Mother
of all Samplers according to some overwhelmed admirers who have
seen it in person. It is in effect,
four separate samplers in one package: the upper third with the
alphabets and a scene of Adam and Eve under the Tree of Life,
titled Paradise
Lost: the middle third a whimsy
of vigorously blooming stylized flower-trees and a very fashionably
attired couple with their pet dog, squirrel, and a deer: the lower
third an enigmatic amalgam of myth and bucolic idealism; the
borders complete the tablets of moralistic verse, each verse
beginning with a consecutive letter of the alphabet, A through
Z. The symmetry, balanced design, well chosen color, and sheer
endurance of the maker, Ann Medd, are astonishing. The lower
scene is most nontraditional and curious. A fisherman is engaged
hooking a large fish from a meandering stream, while a shepherdess/mermaid
(she holds a sheep crook in one hand, the mermaid's traditional
mirror in the other, while her tail floats off into the
background) tends her flock of sheep, all under the sun, moon
and starts shining above simultaneously. |
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Origin and date: England, 1742
Rated: Advanced
Linen count and finished size: 35 count, 44"x18
Stitches: Cross, tent, back, counted satin, eyelet, four-sided
Source: Witney Antiques
Kit with cotton floss: $145.00
Kit with silk floss: $225.00
Graph only: $30.00
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