{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O239736"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O239736/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EE9387/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EE9387/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EE9387","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O239736/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O239736","accessionNumber":"E.372:352-1967","objectType":"Embroidery design","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Design for an embroidered and scalloped hem traced by Sarah Bland (1810-1905) in 1854. The coloured wax crayon and ballpopint pen was added in the twentieth century by a member of the Bland family.  Bland recorded on this pattern that it was from 'M.A. Broderick', 'Cheltenham' in 1854. This design is in an album which includes Bland's collection of  her own botanically accurate designs, simplified patterns from accurate botanical observation, patterns traced from magazines, commercial, printed Berlin wool work patterns, gifts of patterns, including commercial ones from friends and relatives. The designs include those for petit-point, bead-work, decoration for dresses, collars and cuffs, aprons, slippers, tablecloths and covers, cushions, bags, penwipers, initial letters, alphabets etc. In Bland's case, the gift of designs demonstrates the importance of presents and sharing between friends. A few designs are annotated with the name 'Cheltenham' and a date in the 1850s. Bland is recorded as living there and it is where she died over half a century later.","physicalDescription":"Design in pen and ink and coloured crayon for a stylised floral border. The design has been drawn upside down in the album.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Sarah Bland","id":"A7403"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"Pencil crayon","id":"x34797"},{"text":"tracing paper","id":"AAT14161"},{"text":"ballpoint pen","id":"x30346"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pen and ink and twentieth-century coloured pencil crayon and ballpoint pen on tracing paper","categories":[{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Embroidery","id":"THES48960"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"},{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"},{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2010EE9387"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLH (VA)","id":"THES49654"},"free":"","case":"95","shelf":"C","box":"101"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"designs","id":"AAT102051"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Cheltenham","id":"x31143"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1854","earliest":"1854-01-01","latest":"1854-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Mrs D. McGregor","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"20.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"25.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'From / M.A. Brodrick, / Chelt. 1854'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed in ink, upside down, near the bottom right hand corner."},{"content":"'J. WHATMAN / 1834'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Watermark"}],"objectHistory":"Historical significance: Within the study of embroidery, men tend to be recorded as professional embroiderers or pattern drawers, whereas women worked more ambiguously with designs for embroidery. Women's amateur as opposed to professional designs for embroidery raise problems because amateur work has tended to be regarded as less significant. Embroidery was a pastime but was also an economic activity. Upper middle class women's property was closely linked to their status within the family as daughters, wives and widows and only allowed semi-independence. This semi-independence was underpinned by legal, political, and social practices which subordinated them. Nevertheless, it was combined with recognition of their economic worth within the family enterprise. However, women were restricted as they often could not be openly involved in working for money. See L. Davidoff and C. Hall (Reference Tab). Bland could not be seen to be working but it is likely that she embroidered accessories for dress, penwipers, tablecloths, book covers, and cushions as gifts which were her contribution to the household, wider family, and friendship. The quality of her samplers and designs shows the value of such gifts in terms of relationships with family and friends.\r\n\r\nMaterial about the perceptions of a woman's role is pertinent to the discourse on women and therefore gender history. In Bland's case, the gift of designs demonstrates connections between relatives of merchant and banking families and is of historical significance in bonding between such families.","historicalContext":"Sarah Bland (1810-1905) was listed as a 'gentlewoman' in the 1851 census return and is not recorded as having any occupation in the census returns for 1871 and 1901 which is consistent with her social status.","briefDescription":"Design in pen and ink and crayon for a stylised floral border, 1854, by Sarah Bland (1810-1905).","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Davidoff, L and Hall, C. <u> Family Fortunes, Men, Women of the English Middle Class 1780-1850. </u> London: Routledge, 2002. 387 p."}],"production":"There are three samplers by Sarah Bland in the collection of  the Textiles and Fashion Department: T.238-1967; T.239-1967 and T.240-1967.","productionType":{"text":"Design","id":"THES48872"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Cheltenham","id":"x31143"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"flowers","id":"x35571"},{"text":"borders","id":"AAT10252"},{"text":"hems","id":"AAT210502"},{"text":"scalloping","id":"AAT165381"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.372:352-1967"],"accessionNumberNum":"372","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1967,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-05-07","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-08","availableToBook":false}}