Sampler made at the Westtown Quaker School

Sampler made at the Westtown Quaker School

Rebecca Marsh

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This sampler, made by Rebecca Marsh (b. 1791) in 1802, is an accomplished example of a distinctive type of embroidery made only at Quaker schools like the Westtown School in Pennsylvania’s Chester County. The Quaker emphasis on simple, yet careful and precise sewing, enabled students from such schools to become some of the best needleworkers in the nineteenth century who often went on to teach embroidery to other young women. Rebecca entered Westtown in June 1802 when she was eleven and stayed until February 1804. Her sampler is related to two other Westtown examples in the Museum’s collection (2005.19 and 2005.20), both made by Sarah Thomas (1786-1826) in 1801. Reflecting the Quaker emphasis on practicality, Rebecca only had to master half of each of the "snowflake" motifs that appear around the edges of the sampler because the other half would have been a mirror image.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sampler made at the Westtown Quaker SchoolSampler made at the Westtown Quaker SchoolSampler made at the Westtown Quaker SchoolSampler made at the Westtown Quaker SchoolSampler made at the Westtown Quaker School

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.