Object name
Date made
Early 19th century
Place made
Description
An early 19th-century silk embroidered wall pocket with a dark pink fringe and moralistic verse.
Content description
Early 19th-century pocket with surface embroidery on ecru silk, with floral and geometric motifs in green, brown, and ecru silk thread and moralistic inscriptions in grey cross stitch. The pocket is edged with a dark pink silk fringe and features a horizontal opening slit edged with buttonhole stitch in dark green thread. Stitches include buttonhole stitch, cross stitch, satin stitch, stem stitch, herringbone stitch, straight stitch, back stitch, and chain stitch.
An inscription on the upper half reads, 'Good God on what a slender thread/Hang everlasting things/The eternal state of all the dead/upon lif's [sic] feeble strings'. An inscription on the lower half reads, 'Infinite joy or endless woe/Attend on every breath/And yet how unconcern'd [sic] we go/Upon the brink of death'.
Provenance states that the pocket has a dark pink lining which has been unravelled to form the fringing but this cannot be confirmed due to the object being mounted on a fabric-covered board.
This object was very likely made by a girl in an orphanage or charity school. Objects like pockets, samplers, hussifs, watch papers, and pillows were often embroidered by schoolgirls in orphan or charity schools and sold by the school to raise money. Many of these objects originally meant for sale lack names and dates. This pocket was probably meant to be hung on the wall and used to hold small items.
An inscription on the upper half reads, 'Good God on what a slender thread/Hang everlasting things/The eternal state of all the dead/upon lif's [sic] feeble strings'. An inscription on the lower half reads, 'Infinite joy or endless woe/Attend on every breath/And yet how unconcern'd [sic] we go/Upon the brink of death'.
Provenance states that the pocket has a dark pink lining which has been unravelled to form the fringing but this cannot be confirmed due to the object being mounted on a fabric-covered board.
This object was very likely made by a girl in an orphanage or charity school. Objects like pockets, samplers, hussifs, watch papers, and pillows were often embroidered by schoolgirls in orphan or charity schools and sold by the school to raise money. Many of these objects originally meant for sale lack names and dates. This pocket was probably meant to be hung on the wall and used to hold small items.
Dimensions
width: 16cm
height: 23cm
height: 23cm
Materials
Stitches
Chain stitch 
Satin stitch
Herringbone stitch
Stem stitch
Back stitch
Straight stitch
Cross stitch
Buttonhole stitch
Satin stitch
Herringbone stitch
Stem stitch
Back stitch
Straight stitch
Cross stitch
Buttonhole stitch
Motifs
Catalogue number
COL.9
Other numbers
RSN 760
© Royal School of Needlework