The exit bar is located at 19-c. Schoolgirl Sampler – The

When Britain’s arts minister sets export restrictions on artefacts that are in danger of leaving the country, usually the item is something like Charles Dickens’s study desk or Queen Victoria’s crown. This time the maker was an 11-year-old schoolgirl, and the cultural treasure that was prevented from leaving Britain was a piece of needlework she made in 1827 to celebrate the construction of the Menai Suspension Bridge.

Designed by engineer Thomas Telford, the Menai Bridge spans the Menai Strait and connects the island of Anglesey to mainland Wales. The channel has always been dangerous for ships to navigate due to its strong and complex currents, and it claimed many lives before Telford Bridge was hoisted by chains, a single span wide It is enough to connect the bridge piers on the high banks on both sides of the strait. built. Construction of the bridge began in 1819 and was officially opened to traffic on January 30, 1826.

It was the world’s first large-scale suspension bridge and was warmly welcomed by the public and media. One newspaper called it “the most magnificent monument to human art in the world.” Little Mary Anne Hughes saw this architectural marvel when it was still new. In her embroidered masterpiece, created on August 10, 1827, she immortalized the arched piers, the suspended chain cables, the busy sailing ships under the bridge, and even people walking their dogs on the shore. The embroidered text is: ‘Anglesey/MENAI BRIDGE – NEAR ‘Bangor – Caernarfon/Caernarfon’ (pictured above with scrollwork)’ Length [sic] Height 1714 feet, 100 feet above high water, AD 1829 (Anglesey) / Work by Mary Anne Hughes, 10th August 11th (Caernarfon)’.

The young girl’s greatest achievement, and the history it recorded, caught the keen eye of the Marquess of Anglesey in this 17-by-26-inch work. The piece joins his collection at Plas Newydd, alongside a Flemish tapestry, a Regency mahogany bookcase, a Napoleonic telescope, family jewellery, ceramics, silverware, clocks and other high-end decorations to be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London in April The artwork appears together. The sample sold for £14,564, well above the pre-sale price of £1,200-1,800.

The Art Export Review Board agreed with the Marquess of Anglesey and the buyer that the Mary Anne Hughes work was too special to let go if a British institution could be found to keep it in the UK.

Committee member Mark Hallett said:
That Mary Anne Hughes sewed an embroidered picture of the Menai Bridge in Anglesey when she was just 11 years old is testament to both her personal skill and her astonishing concentration.

It is also a window into working-class education and female achievement in early nineteenth-century Britain, giving us a glimpse into a culture that we have largely lost and of which there are too few traces.

This rare and unpretentious treasure is of enduring interest and value and is fully worthy of preservation for the nation. “

Institutions have a deadline of January 7, 2025, so please propose a purchase price or show that they are well on their way to raising capital. If someone takes it over, the auction buyer will be reimbursed for the fee and the sample will become part of the museum’s collection.