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ELIZABETH WISLER
1845 |
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This sampler is a fine example of work
done by Pennsylvania German girls in the early-to-mid nineteenth
century. Similar motifs appear on the show towels that decorated
kitchen and bedroom doors in these immigrant German households.
It is thought that while the show towels were intended for display,
the samplers were not. Their purpose harks back to the origin
of the sampler as a pattern record, where one could keep one's
favorite designs as a reference to use on future embroidered
works, or to share with others. In studying samplers made by
members of the same Pennsylvania German families, certain motifs
appear over and over again, evidence that designs were indeed
shared. For example, the pattern of the heart base with six drooping
flowers from Elizabeth Wisler's sampler probably originated in
a sixteenth century pattern book by Peter Quentel: Musterbuch fur Ornamente
und Stickmuster. It appears on
a circa 1785 Pennsylvania sampler made by Maria Magtalena, evolves
slightly into a motif traceable to a 1791 European sampler made
by Magdalena Laubachsen, thence to three Pennsylvania German
samplers, made by E.F. in 1798, Lidia
Anders' of 1820, and finally
Elizabeth Wisler's of 1845. Pennsylvania German samplers are,
in general, quite plain, full of either random or rowed motifs
popular in the folk art of that culture: birds, trees, hearts,
tulips, crowns, stars, flower-trees, and many variations. |
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Origin and date: Pennsylvania German, 1845
Rated: Beginning
Linen count/finished size: 35 count, 16-1/4"x14-1/4"
Stitches: Cross stitch
Source: The Allentown Art Museum
Kit with cotton floss: $32.00
Kit with silk floss: $60.00
Graph only: $7.00
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