'Hommage a mes chers parents', antique sampler

 

     I love samplers, alphabets, small motifs, beautiful borders, and solemn verses or quotes.  But if asked to decide which are my favourites, without doubts I would have to say samplers with names, dates, or samplers that celebrate or commemorate an event.

    They are more personal, they tell a story, a tale of time and people long gone, but who once were very much alive and living life like we do today. Often we romanticise, or vilify the past, we think of people as either living a life with a quality above our own, or as being forced to live in squalor and misery….. but for myself I find comfort in the footsteps of those who passed before us, they made the reforms and shaped the nations we live in and we in turn do the same for generations to come.

    Sadly it seems I might be one of the few who see the beauty is such samplers, as often they go unnoticed in auctions or fetch a lower price than their more floral counterparts (of course there are exceptions, such as samplers in silk or those with names of prominent families)

See how unravelled it is......

   Here is a beautiful example, of a French family sampler stitched in 1900 by Clementine. The poor thing is in a sad condition with a terribly unravelled edge, and part of the stitching having faded considerably.

      The sampler was stitched by the oldest child, and only daughter- Clémentine in 1900 at the school of the Sisters of Providence.

     The title says ‘ Homage to my dear parents’, and is followed by the names, and dates of birth of her parents, their marriage date and the names and birth dates of their three children. Some pretty borders, and floral sprays. 

     Are you related to, or know something about the family do contact me as I would love to know more about Clémentine, her family of the school she attended in 1900.

HOMMAGE 

A MES CHERS PARENTS

Pierre Joseph Hecq

Né le 19 Décembre 1859

Amandine Coquiart

Née le 1 Décembre 1865

Unis le 14 Novembre 1887

Clémentine née le 25 Avril 1889

Adolphe né le 24 Aout 1890

Gérard né le 9 Septembre 1900

Fait par Clémentine en 1900

Ecole des soeurs de la Providence
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'Bad kitty ! Get off that antique sampler, I'm trying to take a photo for my blog......!'