Rare Needlework Sampler, Susannah Richardson (b. 1755), Boston, Massachusetts, Dated 1764

Worked in silk threads on linen in satin, eyelet, bullion, long-armed cross-, and cross-stitches with French knots Inscribed: Next.unto.God.Dear.Parents.IAddress.My./self.to.you.in.Humble.Thankfulness.For.all/
your.care.and.Charge.on.Me.Bestowd.the./Means.of.Learning.unto.Me.allowd.go.on./
I.Pray.and.Let.Me.Still.Persue.These.Golden./Arts.The.Vulgar.never.new.Susannah.Richardson.
Ended.This.Samplar.In/The.Ninth.Year.Of.Her.Age.November.The./Twenty.Second.1764.  
16 3/4  by 10 3/4  inches. (44 threads to the inch).

Adams House Antiques, Tustin, California, 1978

Some fading.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Exhibited and Literature: LACMA, p. 28, fig. 2

Susannah Richardson's finely worked sampler, dated 1764, is representative of one of the earliest recognized groups of eighteenth-century American sampler embroideries. These distinctive pieces were worked in the vicinity of Boston as early as 1729.¹ Elizabeth Cheever (fig. 1) made her related sampler in 1736, nearly three decades earlier. Specific patterns typical of this Boston group are present in this unbordered, banded sampler. The maple leaf motif, for example, has been used extensively, while the characteristic hexagonal band pattern has been depicted, as it often is, in threads of deep green silk, and the favored eyelet stitch forms one of the alphabet rows. By 1764, when the design for this piece was conceived, a pictorial garden along the base of the sampler had become the prevailing style. Susannah has worked a naturalistic scene, relaxed and decidedly folksy. Quite unexpectedly, a delightful black and white cow has wandered into the landscape. This charming element is nearly obscured by the grassy mounds in the foreground, which are deeply embedded with blossoms. As colonial samplers became more Americanized, Boston schoolmistresses veered away from the formal, precise needlework taught by their British counterparts, and schoolgirl embroideries in New England evolved into pictorial scenes of great imagination and charm. Borders became wider and more elaborate. The sampler worked by Susannah Richardson, then, is a reflection of a regional pattern in transition. Still English in style, it is borderless, and the alphabets and sawtooth stitches are worked in bands. Susannah has also inscribed on it a traditional pious verse. Yet at the same time, she has added to the work a lively pastoral scene, inhabited by frisky cattle. Susannah, daughter of Jonathan Richardson and Mary Woodward Richardson, was born December 12, 1755, in Newton, Massachusetts, a small settlement to the west of Boston. She was one of a family of ten children.² The family eventually moved to Mohawk, New York, in the valley of the Mohawk River.³

¹ Sotheby's, New York, catalogue, Fine American Furniture, Folk An, Silver, and China Trade Paintings, 5736, June 23, 1988, lot 320.
² John Adams Vinton, The Richardson Memorial (Portland, ME: Brown Thurston and Company, 1876),229.
³ Ibid., 229. While evidence suggests that the family moved to Whitestown, New York, in 1768, Vinton questions the reliability of his source for this, stating that it was sometime after June 1784 that the first "white settlers" arrived in that place "only lately having been relieved from the inroads of savage Indians." From the Federal Census, New York State, 1800, Susannah Richardson's brothers are known to have been established in Herkimer and Otsego counties nearby. See also Federal Census, New York State, 1790.