NEWBURYPORT, MASSACHUSETTS PICTORIAL NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER, silk on linen, top half with six alphabet rows segmented by decorative stitching above a four-row verse of "How blest the [M]aid whom circling years improve / Her God the object of her warmest love / [W]hose useful hours successive as they glide / [T]he book the needle and the pen divide", signed below "Hannah Flanders born January 31 1790 AE 14", lower third featuring a pictorial scene of a central floral arrangement in vase, flanked by two trees with birds on branches and other plants, all above a field with two white and two black sheep grazing, three sides with finely executed scrolling flowering-vine border. Housed under glass in a black-painted frame. Lot includes a copy of M. Finkel & Daughter, "Samplings: XXXIX", 2011. Circa 1804. 16 3/4" x 20 1/2" sight, 19 3/8" x 23" OA.
Very good overall condition with light toning, a few losses to black thread in verse, some fading and fugitive color to thread, frame with some wear and flakes to paint. Not examined out of frame.
Literature: Parallels M. Finkel & Daughter - Samplings: XXXIX, p. 3; and The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens - Useful Hours: Needlework and Painted Textiles from California Collections, p. 8, top left fig.
Provenance: From the collection of Nick Routson, Phoenix, AZ.Susie & Richie Burmann, Ohio/New Hampshire.
Catalogue Note: Identified as Hannah Flanders of Newburyport, Essex Co., MA. She was born in 1790 to parents Nehemiah Flanders (1749-1823) and Sarah French (1755-1829), who married on September 23, 1775. Hannah married Thomas Sergent Goodhue (1779-1859) in 1842, and she died on August 13, 1871 in Newburyport. This sampler belongs to a group referred to as "Vertical Shady Bower" samplers, made in the towns of Newbury and Newburyport in Massachusetts during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These samplers share the same format and motif elements including lawns with sheep and blue vases with flowers. Recent research completed by Dr. Tricia Wilson Nguyen identified the designer of this sampler group as Miss Betty "Betsy" Bradstreet (1738-1815) of Newburyport, who was known for her embroidery designs and possibly served as a teacher.

Very good overall condition with light toning, a few losses to black thread in verse, some fading and fugitive color to thread, frame with some wear and flakes to paint. Not examined out of frame.