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5Margaret Roome, New York City, New York, 1793Provenance: Collection of Betty RingAmelia Peck, curator in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, wrote an article that was published in The Magazine Antiques, February, 2005, entitled, Biblical Samplers From New York City. This remarkable group of samplers includes pieces as early as 1746 and as late as the 1830s made by girls who received instruction from a series of teachers. The article documents and analyzes the approximately 30 known samplers, breaking them down into stylistic groups. Ms. Peck states that %u201cLater in the [18th] century, some biblical imagery is retained, but other, more secular motifs appeared as well,%u201d a statement that applies to Margaret Roome%u2019s fine sampler. It was owned by Betty Ring and published as figure 49 in American Needlework Treasures: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection of Betty Ring (Dutton, 1987). Margaret, who was 10 years old when she worked this sampler, included appealingly na%u00efve depictions of Adam and Eve at the Tree of Knowledge and Joshua and Caleb, the Spies of Canaan on a sawtooth lawn, with classic sampler imagery, above. The Roome family is one of New York%u2019s earliest Dutch families, as documented by Descendants of Peter Willemse Roome, by Peter Roome Warner (New York, 1883). Margaret was a great-great-great granddaughter of the emigrant ancestor; she was born on April 12, 1788 to William and Margaret (Pray) Roome of New York. In 1808 Margaret married Caleb Stockton Halsted (1787-1827) of Elizabeth, New Jersey and they had six children. After his death, Margaret married Job Haines. She died in 1870.The border that frames the sampler is particularly noteworthy as the stylized carnations are formed of the queen%u2019s-stitch, a technique that required unusual skill. Queen%u2019s-stitched borders of varying composition are another of the shared characteristics of New York biblical samplers. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in very good condition with some loss to the linen which has been stabilized. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame with a figured maple bead. Samper size: 16%u00bd%u201d x 16%u201d Frame size: 20%u00bd%u201d x 20%u201d Price: $17,500.