A REGENCY IRISH NEEDLEWORK QUAKER MOUNTMELLICK SCHOOL SAMPLER

A REGENCY IRISH NEEDLEWORK QUAKER MOUNTMELLICK SCHOOL SAMPLER

BY ELIZABETH NEALE

worked with polychrome silks in cross, satin and eyelet stitch on a linen ground, with brightly coloured alphabets, one in the mythical 'Holbein' stitch and numerals, with bands of flowers within a scrolling leaf and flower border, signed and dated 'Elizabeth Neale Mountmelick Boarding School Anno 1807', in a later glazed wood frame

55 x 33.4cm

Provenance

Upper Slaughter Manor, The Collection of Micheál and Elizabeth Feller.

Catalogue Note

William Edmundson, the father of Quakerism in Ireland, settled in Mountmellick along with John Pim and a number of other Quakers in 1659. The first Quaker school was opened in Mountmellick in 1677 where stitching and knitting were taught to both girls and boys.