Antique Needlework Sampler
Elizabeth Ba??gett
Liberated African
Sierra Leone dated 1829
This rare sampler (about 15 are known from the school) was worked by a young liberated African girl who was probably
kidnapped from Yoruba Africa (now Nigeria), rescued from a slave ship and sent to the English missionary school
in the mountain village of Bathurst in Sierra Leone, Africa. There she was given her English name "Elizabeth
Ba??gett". Except for the small hole in her English name the condition and colors are quite good.
Silk on linen; 18 ¾" x 17 3/8" sight.
The moving and gentle verse adds to its charm and has moved me to conjecture up what her native name may have been.
"IFE" was a popular female name in Yoruba that means "love"
Dear "IFE",
I'm writing you from Earth in the year 2017.
Whatever your real name was and whatever separations and trauma you and your family went through in the late 1820s,
YOU are having a wonderful affect on people 185 years later. The message you stitched on your sampler still moves
humanity to;- - - listen to that small still voice which only whispers love.
Thank you,
Steve
Sold
STEPHEN & CAROL HUBER
(860) 388-6809
Hubers@AntiqueSamplers.com
View Other Samplers
|