Embroidered sampler

Ann Margaret Thum’s house and garden sampler is characteristic of the refined composition and embroidery techniques taught to Philadelphia schoolgirls in the early nineteenth century. Typical regional motifs include the two-handled striped baskets filled with flowering plants placed below Ann’s inscription, and the Federal-style house flanked by fruit trees, enclosed by a post-and-rail fence where spindly legged sheep graze on a green lawn. An arcaded flowering vine border encloses the composition on four sides, a format closely associated with Philadelphia samplers of the Federal era. Unfortunately, the lovely design of the sampler cannot be fully appreciated due to the fabric losses along its edges, damage that occurred to the piece before it entered the museum’s collection.

Born in Philadelphia in 1810, Ann Margaret Thum was the eldest daughter of John Jacob Thum (1771-1826) and Margaret Thum (1781-1851). She later married Mathias L. Beale (1808-1875), a Philadelphia clerk. The couple had nine children born in the Southward neighborhood of Philadelphia between 1829 and 1859, and who were baptized in the Episcopal church. By 1878 Ann Margaret appears in a Philadelphia city directory as a widow living at 332 McIlwain Street. She passed away in Philadelphia on January 7, 1883.