A MENNONITE COTTON-ON-LINEN NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER

Details

A MENNONITE COTTON-ON-LINEN NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER
SIGNED AND DATED, FANNY NISLEY, RAPHO TOWNSHIP, LANCASTER COUNTY, STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1836

The rectangular plain woven linen ground with alternating green and cream silk border surrounds headed by crimson silk rosettes enclosing three cross-stitched horizontal registers comprised at the top of a red cotton double alphabetical band ending in the year 1836, above an inscribed verse reading, "Fanny Nisley A Daughter of Martin Nisley and Anna Nisley Fanny Nisleys Sampler Work.d in the 15th year of her age in the yer [sic] of our Lord Rapho Township Lancaster County State of Pennsylvania/ 1836" over an open field embellished with red and blue cross-stitched stars, crowns, leaping stags, birds of paradise, stylized tulips, and a table set with chairs, all centering an elaborate crowned heart set with stylized flowers and the letters "HB ED OD E" above the date 1836 in a lozenge surround, appears to retain original frame--20¾in. high, 18in. wide

Provenance

Public Sale, East Petersburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Literature

Gehret, et. al., p. 70, fig. 102.

Exhibited

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, The Heritage Center of Lancaster County, "By Hand and Eye," May 4 - October 31, 1976
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, "The Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of their Arts, 1683 - 1850," October 17, 1982 - January 9, 1983
Houston, Texas, The Museum of Fine Arts, "The Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of their Arts, 1683 - 1850," March 5 - May 15, 1983
San Francsico, California, The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco: M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, "The Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of their Arts, 1683 - 1850," July 2 - September 3, 1983
Chicago, Illinois, The Art Institute of Chicago, "The Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebrations of their Arts, 1683 - 1850," December 10, 1983 - January 29, 1984

Lot Essay

A second and later sampler also by Fanny Nisley, is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and is illustrated in Garvan, p. 283, fig. 15, and p. 365. Born 3 December 1821, Fanny Nisley died 11 November 1888, and is known to have had five sisters, three of whom also made samplers (see Gehret, p. 70). While census records show Fanny's father living in Rapho Township, Lancaster County in 1840, he is not listed again for 1850. Beyond the example illustrated here and the example in the Philadephia Museum of Art, a third Nisley sampler is in the collection of the North Museum, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster.