Hannah Lewis

An unusual sampler with much to offer, this portrays in the center a classic scene of a fine, flat- top house with two chimneys and widow’s walks, set on a hill with pine trees. A pair of birds, two graphic stars and two lions (one quite tiny) – further embellish the depiction. Variations of this appear on the sought-after samplers made in the Philadelphia area in the late 18th and early 19th century. The sampler is signed, “Hannah Lewis 1812.” 

The splendid scene along the top of the sampler is one not at all commonly found; it owes its influence to the interest in Chinoiserie design of the period. A pagoda-style gazebo is centered on a strongly horizontal deep green lawn with intricate fencing that closely resembles Chinoiserie chairs of the Chippendale period. The swags and tassels that surmount this complete the exotic nature. 

There are also Quaker motifs that are characteristic of Pennsylvania schoolgirl samplers of this period, adding to the cross-cultural personality of the sampler. The pair of birds united by a bell-flower motif at the very top and the five pendulous blueberry elements throughout came directly from the many fine Quaker schools in the area. 

The moralistic verse below offers the type of advice that was included on many samplers:

Youth early learn to banish from within,

The first tho’ small appearances of sin,

Far from your breast your darling vice remove

Shun bad companions less they fatal prove

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a fine inlaid mahogany frame with an outer bead.