BRITISH PICTORIAL NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER, wool and silk on linen, center with six-row verse of "Jesus, permit thy gracious name to stand / As the first effort of an infant hand, / And while her fingers o'er the canvass move, / Engage her tender thoughts to seek thy love; / With thy dear children let her share a part / And write thy name, thyself upon her heart.", signed below "Mercy Hague aged 9 years / Anno Domini / 1850.", featuring pictorial motifs of flowers and birds, all encompassed by a scrolling flowering-vine border. Housed under glass in a period veneer frame. Dated 1850. 21 3/4" x 22 1/2" sight, 28" x 29" OA.
Very good overall condition with toning to linen, some bleeding of dark color from thread in text, some light fading and fugitive color to thread, frame with wear, surface scratches, some losses to veneer and separation at corners. Not examined out of frame.
Provenance: From the collection of Nick Routson, Phoenix, AZ.
Catalogue Note: Probably identified as Mercy Hague born in 1841, the illegitimate daughter to mother Harriett Hague (1818-1885) in Barlow, Derbyshire, England. Her mother married Charles Gelsthorpe (1821-1895) some time after 1850. Mercy had a daughter and a son, both of their baptismal records lists her as a "Single Woman". She and her children lived with her mother and step-father as noted in the 1881 English Census for Barlow. The 1911 English Census records Mercy as living in Barlow with a boarder, which also notes that she had two children, one who is still living and one who had died.

Very good overall condition with toning to linen, some bleeding of dark color from thread in text, some light fading and fugitive color to thread, frame with wear, surface scratches, some losses to veneer and separation at corners. Not examined out of frame.