Sampler

Textiles

1791

Polly Bedford (American, born c. 1778/1779)
United States, Massachusetts, Marblehead

This very distinctive sampler is part of a group that cannot be identified with a specific schoolmistress but was certainly made in the seacoast town of Marblehead, Massachusetts. The elegantly dressed figures of the man with his hat in his hand and the lady holding flowers are reoccurring motifs found in other Marblehead samplers.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Textiles

Artist: Polly Bedford (Maker)
Title: Sampler
Place: Massachusetts (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1791
Medium: Wool, plain weave; embroidered with silk floss and silk yarns in back, chain, Cretan, individual back, individual running, Roman, satin, stem, and surface satin stitches; laid work, couching, and Roumanian couching
Inscriptions: Work'd.by.Polly.Bedford.in.the.Twelfth / year. of her. age. 1791.
Dimensions: 42.9 × 43.7 cm (16 7/8 × 17 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Bequest of Elizabeth R. Vaughan
Reference Number: 1950.1130
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/107913/manifest.json

Textbook for the 8th Grade, Chicago (Chicago: Follett Publishing Company).

Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, America the Beautiful: Textiles from the Permanent Collection, Mar. 6–July 21, 1996.
Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 67, Department of European Decorative Arts, Sept. 9, 1999-Jan. 5, 2000.
Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, Fabric of a New Nation: American Needlework and Textiles, 1776-1840 Dec. 16, 2011–June 3, 2012, extended: July 12-Nov. 11, 2012.
Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 1-4, Photography + Folk Art: Looking for America in the 1930s, Sept. 21, 2019-Jan. 20, 2020.

Elizabeth Vaughan (born Tyson, 1871–1949), South Berwick, ME, and Sherborn, MA, by 1949 [incoming receipt R9946, Jan. 11, 1950; copy in curatorial object file]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1950.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.