Droughtville Forest 1807

This is a very unusual Irish sampler. The top third could pass as Scottish with the illuminated alphabets and beautiful, delicate double running stitch motifs. An unusual band of ten lozenges is stitched under the alphabets, each with a different petit point motif within in. The lower half of the sampler is dominated by a large altar with a basket on top of it, from which spring flowers and vines. There is a verse at the front of the altar:

Remember thy Creator
In all thy ways acknowledge Him.

The altar is flanked by elaborate baskets sprouting more vines and flowers. It is signed “Mary Ann Drought Droughtville Forest 1807”.

Droughtville is in Ireland, and from genealogical research Mary Anne was born in Droughtville, Lettybrook, Heath, King’s Co Ireland to Thomas Drought and Naomi Fraser. She married William Delany in Ballinacarrig, King’s Co, Ireland.

The sampler exhibits some fading and a number of small holes. It was stitched with silk on fine tammy cloth in a wide variety of stitches including double running, half cross, satin, petit point, tent, outline and cross. The attention to detail is extraordinary. It measures 11″ x 13″, with the frame 13″ x 15″. The framer’s label on the back indicates that it was framed in Pawtucket, Rhode Island at The Pohlson Galleries, established in 1895.