Elizabeth Pain 1667

Description

This band sampler was designed after a piece in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, most remarkable for the colorful, solidly filled geometric and floral sections. It also features double running stitch sections found on Italian embroideries of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Stitches used in the sampler include double running, cross, back stitch, and cross stitch over one thread of linen (petit point, only in the attribution and date). While nothing is known for certain about Elizabeth Pain, there is a curious story attached to a woman of the same name who was a settler in colonial Boston. She was born around 1652 and died in November of 1704. Some writers and popular tradition claim that her gravestone was the inspiration for the description of the grave of Hester Prynne from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter because of an unusual coat of arms that appears to be the letter “A” to the right of two lions rampant. While there is no way to prove this was the same Elizabeth Pain who made this sampler, the dates would have her around age fifteen at the time it was stitched. On 35 count linen the finished sampler will measure approximately 8-1/2″ x 22-1/2″. It is recommended for intermediate to advanced needleworkers.