Sampler

Maker Eunice Hooper (American, 1781-1866)

Additional Title(s)

Work by Eunice Hooper, Embroidered Domestic Scene

Collections

Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection

ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS

Dateca. 1790

Mediumsilk on linen

Dimensionsframe: 23 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. (58.4 x 59.7 x 3.8 cm.)

DescriptionSilk embroidered picture on linen made by Eunice Hooper, age 9; Georgian style house on right; female figure reading in window; five figures, horse and carriage driver, and birds, sheep, dog against a dark background with flowers and leaves.

Inscribed“Work by Eunice Hooper in the ninth year of her age”

Credit LineJonathan and Karin Fielding Collection

Status

Not on view

Label TextColorfully embroidered samples made by girls between the ages of eight and eighteen were typically the result of a creative partnership between a gifted teacher and a remarkably diligent student. These compositions were based on designs sketched or blocked in by the teacher and subsequently stitched by her pupil. As proudly stated in big, bold letters, this sampler was "worked by Eunice Hooper in the ninth year of her age." Typical of needlework produced in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in the early 1790s, it combines a remarkable level of naturalistic detail with neoclassical elements such as a fantastical representation of a horse-drawn chariot.

Object numberL2015.41.65