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Lot Essay
According to Betty Ring in 1993, this magnificent sampler worked by Sarah Johnson in 1769 is the earliest known sampler to include the word Newport. Incorporating intricately worked figures, flowers and animals within a multi-tiered composition, this sampler illustrates one of two schools operating in Newport during the 1760s and 1770s. Sarah Johnson's work is among those termed by Ring as the "frolicking people" group, which may have been made under the instruction of Mrs. Sarah Haggar Osborn, who taught from 1734 until at least 1776. The same group also includes the remarkable girlhood effort of Mary Balch, who would later move to Providence and become one of the most important needlework instructors in early America, as is evident by Nancy Winsor's work in lot 76 (Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework, 1650-1850, vol. I (New York, 1993), pp. 175, 177; Betty Ring, "Mary Balch's Newport Sampler" (September 1983), p. 500).
This needlework was probably worked by Sarah Johnson (1757-1821) who married blacksmith Jeremiah Hill (d. 1800) on 2 March 1788 at the Second Baptist Church in Newport (Ring 1993, p. 175). For related examples see Skinner, Inc., November 2012, lot 39; Ring 1983, cited above, pp. 500-508; Betty Ring, Let Virtue Be A Guide to Thee (Providence, 1983), pp. 80-87 , figs. 23-30; Ring 1993, pp. 172, 173, 176, figs. 194, 199 (additional information provided by Carol and Stephen Huber).
This needlework was probably worked by Sarah Johnson (1757-1821) who married blacksmith Jeremiah Hill (d. 1800) on 2 March 1788 at the Second Baptist Church in Newport (Ring 1993, p. 175). For related examples see Skinner, Inc., November 2012, lot 39; Ring 1983, cited above, pp. 500-508; Betty Ring, Let Virtue Be A Guide to Thee (Providence, 1983), pp. 80-87 , figs. 23-30; Ring 1993, pp. 172, 173, 176, figs. 194, 199 (additional information provided by Carol and Stephen Huber).