Rare Needlework Sampler, Hannah S. Wolcott (1785-1848), Massachusetts, Circa 1800

Worked in silk threads and human hair in satin, outline, tent, eyelet, Bargello, stem, buttonhole and cross-stitches with French knots on linen. Inscribed: Hannah S Wolcott/On Music/Music the fiercest grief can charm/And fates severest rage disarm/Music can soften pain to ease/And make despair and madness please. 15 1/2  by 13 inches. (20 threads to the inch).

America Hurrah, New York, October, 1982

Somewhat darkened and with a spot to top edge, right of center.
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. 36, fig. 6

Hannah Sewall Wolcott's great-grandfather, Samuel Sewall, a member of the New England Council and a distinguished judge, was dedicated to equal education of the sexes. In 1687, his young daughters were in regular attendance at a school in Boston kept by Dame Walker.¹ This early established tradition of education for women was clearly upheld by future generations of the Sewall-Wolcott family. Hannah Wolcott was attending school in her early teens when she embroidered this exquisitely worked sampler. With its broad, colorful border of bowknots and leafy swags, it displays great sophistication in design and execution. Samplers embellished with this identical border pattern have been attributed to the Boston area, although an identifiable group has yet to be established.  This suggests that these tasteful motifs appealed to many embroidery mistresses in the region, who then adapted the design for their particular classroom needs.  The figure of a woman has been finely embroidered within a serene bower, surrounded by naturalistic roses of unusually large proportion. The sky above is adorned with birds. Grassy Bargello stitches in shimmering tones of sea green have been worked across the base of the sampler. The central figure is garbed in a fashionable dress that still retains its original, rich aqua color. A pristine white fichu, finely worked in buttonhole stitches, frames her face. Black threads outline the lute she holds in her lap, emphasizing the importance of music to the samplermaker. Surprisingly, we find that the figure's long brown hair is made of real hair.  Wolcott's sampler format includes a verse in praise of music, a subject of study at which she must have excelled. Liberal use of the long s is evident in the embroidered inscriptions, an archaic tradition soon to lose favor with schoolmistresses and samplermakers alike. It would appear; however, that scarcely a thought was given to the placement of her signature until the needlework was declared complete, for it has been awkwardly inserted high within the decorative border. Her age and the date of the sampler remain undisclosed. One of six children born to Hannah Sewall (daughter of Captain  Henry Sewall and Ann White) and Edward Kitchen Wolcott  of Brookline, Massachusetts, Hannah S. Wolcott was baptised in  1785.2  Hannah S. Wolcott married John Folsom, a merchant in  Boston, April 30, 1814. They had one son, Samue1.3 Six years later,  possibly widowed, she was living in Brookline.4 Hannah Wolcott  Folsom is probably the same Hannah who died in Lowell,  Massachusetts, on October 24, 1843.5 She is buried in the Wolcott  family tomb in the Walnut Street Cemetery, Brookline.⁶  Hannah's younger sister Elizabeth worked an elegant silk  mourning embroidery in 1808. The Wolcott girls undoubtedly attended the same fashionable school for girls near Longwood, the family estate in Brookline, Massachusetts.⁷      

 

1. Thomas, ed., Diary of Samuel Sewall, 1674-1729, vol. 1: 139.   

2. Chandler Wolcott, Wolcott Genealogy: The Family of Henry Wolcott (Rochester, NY: Genesee Press, 1912), 127.   

3. Ibid.   

4. Federal Census, Brookline, Massachusetts, 1820.   

5. Death Records, Massachusetts, 1843-1844, vol. 35, no. 216.   

6. Harriet Alma Cummings, comp., Burials and Inscriptions in the Walnut Street Cemetery of Brookline, Massachusetts (Brookline, MA: Brookline Historical Society, 1920), 130, 132, 133. The date of death for Hannah S. Wolcott is incorrectly given as between 1900 and 1913.   

7. Elizabeth Wolcott's sampler is in the collection of Betty Ring; see Ring, American Needlework Treasures,  64. See also John Gould Curtis, History of the Town of Brookline, Massachusetts (Boston, MA, and  New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1(33),  93,94,95.