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A NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER

MARIANNE NEVILLE, 1846

Details
A NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER
MARIANNE NEVILLE, 1846
Embroidered on linen as a scroll, the title page embroidered The Gospel of St Luke, Italian and English, Written on Linen, by Marianne Neville, 33 Upper Rutland Street Dublin, Ireland, in the Tenth Year of her Captivity for Jesus Christ's salek by the Irish Court of Chancery for maintaining the Omnipotence of God, The Divinity of Christ and the Restoration of Israel, worked by her, 1846-7, assisted by 5 Orphans
8 in. (20 cm.) deep x 1000 in. long, with a length of unembroidered plain linen continuation
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VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium This lot will be removed to an off-site warehouse at the close of business on the day of sale - 2 weeks free storage

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Lot Essay

Miss Marianne Neville was charged as follows: For believing the Omnipotence of God and the restoration of Israel, according to the scriptures... and further with intending to lay out GBP150... in establishing a portion of the Ten Tribes of Israel in Idumea etc; and was likewise charged with having printed a Geography, for the use of Schools

She was kept under the supervision of the court, who employed a live-in housekeeper to look after her affairs and her money. She was not permitted to support the religious causes she espoused, nor to travel. She very much viewed this as being incarcerated without trial. She was, however, allowed to support orphans and teach them to embroider. Five of these assisted with this sampler.

She embarked on a campaign of letter writing which was throughout her confinement at 33 Upper Rutland Street, Dublin. Her correspondents, via the mediation of her agent, as she was not allowed to write directly, included His Excellency Edem Bey, the Minister of Public Instruction in Egypt. She was forthright in outlining her views of education and urged him to import Irish linen workers to revive the defunct Egyptian linen industry.

This embroidered Gospel of St Luke must surely have been part of her drive to teach English through the medium of the bible.

See A Narrative of Seven Years of Religious Persecution, Joseph B. Coleridge, 1844.

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