Another sampler which came from the same family as other samplers on the site. As the embroideres is different it may have been worked by a member of the wife's family in law, perhaps a married daughter. The family originated from the Zaanstreek, the prosperous area of north Holland moving in the 19th century to the Dordrecht area. This sampler could be from Friesland, the province in the north part of the Netherlands or nearby Groningen.
dated 1789, worked with the initials PITGIBYIPMP.also the initials BP at the bottom, with alphabets and numbers above pairs of birds flanking a stylised flower in a pot, other varieties of flowers in pots and smaller birds,
Very good. No fading.
I think BITGIBYIPMP is likely to be a series of family initials in the same manner of the Scots, and that B and P may be the linked surname intials of a married or betrothed couple - might be the surname initials of the stitcher's parents. Thank you to Jacqueline Holdsworth for her comment.
Letter voor Letter, by Gieneke Arnolli and Rosalie Sloof, documents these Friesian “letterdoekens” (letter cloths). Alphabets on the early samplers, like this one, lack the letters J,Q,U,X,Y,Z and the H is distinctive for its cross bar which forms a small V. While English and American samplers from early periods tend to be vertical in shape, Friesian samplers are generally horizontal in format.
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