A MISCELLANY: A Collection of Seventeenth Century Canvas work Elements from the Natural World
The subjects in this needlework design are taken from a seventeenth century canvas work, formerly in the collection of The Scarlet Letter, consisting of nine panels stitched primarily in shades of... Read more
Try as we might, we cannot find another sampler to compare with this one by Sarah Brignell. It is a sampler unto itself: truly an original piece of folk art. The tiny central cartouche with the densely stitched scene floats like a little world unto itself in the midst of the exuberant garden of... Read more
This amazing, unprecedented English sampler illustrates so many unique and bold elements of design, stitched in a balanced way inside a four-sided strawberry border. In all my decades of study I've never seen an antique sampler with quite this much bizarre personality.
Note from the designer - "This design was inspired by an early eighteenth century English picture executed in tent stitch." The designs features a lion, a leopard and a parrot surrounded by bright flowers.
The design is stitched over one thread on 35 Ct. linen. It uses cross stitch,... Read more
Agnes Binnie was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland, on March 22, 1808, to Robert Binnie and Mary Addie. She married James Barclay on March 16, 1832, in Falkirk, Stirlingshire. The couple had at least six sons and three daughters. Around 1870 they emigrated to Scotland Township in McDonough, Illinois.... Read more
This colorful William III English needlework vignette is executed entirely in gros and petit point stitches (cross stitch over one and two threads of linen). It depicts a large gros point fruiting tree above a scene with very finely stitched petit point leaves, flowers, and two animals, the larger... Read more
This design was excerpted from the top of an early nineteenth-century English sampler. It features an unusual and amusing hunting scene with a solo hunter on horseback pursuing a single hapless stag with a pack of ten spotted hounds on its trail.
The verse reads:
Give me O Lord thy early... Read more
Note from the designer - "The design of this piece was inspired by fine examples of early eighteenth century American and English needlework pictures. A picture like this would have been stitched as a painting, with great attention to detail, shading, color, and composition." The design... Read more
Note from the designer - "This is a very graceful and finely stitched sampler, an unusual combination for the late date. Nine ethereal female figures, like penitents in an Edward Gorey cartoon, march solemnly about the sampler, paying homage to the house. The huge house appears to be welcoming... Read more
Note from the designer - This is the most symmetrical, balanced, counted thread sampler that we have ever charted from. It is also one of the most satisfying, challenging, and beautiful samplers in the world. Originally worked on a fine wool ground, the colors of our reproduction have been matched... Read more
This English sampler combines embroidered pictorial, alphabetic, and upholstery techniques, becoming in every sense a sampler of Ms. Topham's best work. Bargello work (also known as canvaswork, Irish stitch, flamestitch, or Florentine stitch) appeared on the earliest seventeenth century samplers,... Read more
Note from the designer: "This small and brilliantly preserved band sampler demonstrates a wide variety of stitches found on many seventeenth century samplers. The beautifully shaded flower heads and leaves are filled in with connecting tiers of trellis stitch."
Note from the designer: "This densely worked sampler displays exquisite detail and contains many of the most popular needlework motifs of the seventeenth century. The flowers are realistically shaded to achieve a natural look."
Finished size on 35 count linen is 7 1/4" x 25... Read more
Note from the designer - "Rhode Island samplers were among the first American schoolgirl embroideries to be recognized by serious collectors and textile scholars as a distinctive group with extraordinary visual appeal. The Sheffield sampler is delicately worked with an unusually pleasing... Read more
Note from the designer - This needlework was designed after an English sampler in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts-Boston. The lush border flowers are similar to those on a sampler made by Sarah Brignell from around the same period, suggesting the existence of a school or teacher whose... Read more
This wonderfully symmetrical English sampler features a pair of silky floating swans and large twin sunflowers, executed in a rich natural palette of color. Birds fly over the tops of three flower-trees in the top third. A sumptuous basket of fruit is stitched between the golden swans, and towering... Read more
The original Scottish antique sampler had never been framed and so it was in excellent condition with the same vibrant, unfaded colors on the front as well as on the back. An unusual, elaborate four-sided undulating floral and leaf border surrounds a central reserve with a brief moral verse. Adam... Read more
The original sampler, made in England in 1848, was stitched with cross, counted satin, petit point, and eyelet stitches on an extremely fine glazed linen of approximately fifty threads per inch.
It is unusual to find such a meticulously and finely stitched sampler at this late date, when... Read more
This mid-eighteenth-century Scottish band sampler features many classic seventeenth-century patterns, executed in cross, eyelet, double running, counted satin, back, and queen stitches.
The virtually unfaded color was reproduced from the front of the sampler. Six pattern bands precede... Read more
This is an expansive English sampler with an unusual four-sided leafy branch and floral border, centering a very busy reserve filled with baskets of fruits and flowers, stylized trees and plants, birds, lions rampant, butterflies, rabbits, and stags. A large building/mansion/institution is at the... Read more
Note from the designer: "Mourning pictures were not an uncommon art form in England and America during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Evolving from European commemorative art honoring deceased heroes, mourning pictures were a cherished way to remember loved ones, designed to... Read more
This sampler features a lion, a camel, and large colorful flowers. The design was stitched over 2 threads on 40 Ct. linen and is suitable for all skill levels. The stitch count for each design is 244 W x 230 H.
Note from the designer - "Typical of so many Scottish samplers, Elizabeth Masterton's features an abundance of initials (likely familial), rows of evergreen trees, peacocks with seven tail feathers, and the now famous mansion house fronted by a pillared fence and gates enclosing sheep. Apart... Read more
Note from the designer - "This picture was originally designed to be used as a cushion or footstool cover, or perhaps as a decorative vignette inserted into the top of a wooden box for storing precious objects. Executed entirely in cross stitch, its most prominent characters are a large squirrel... Read more
Note from the designer - "This finely stitched German sampler begins with a single row of alphabets above an immensely intricate collection of symbolic cross stitched motifs, including battling angels, the figure of Justice with her scales, the spies of Canaan, the crucifixion, Adam and Eve... Read more
Note from the designer - "At age nine in 1818, Sarah Dutnel created this unusual "tree of life" sampler. A traditional carnation and tulip border in subtle, earthy shades of gold, brown, and cream surrounds the tree. Dogs, deer, birds, stars, potted plants, trees and flowers flank the... Read more
Note from the designer - "Designed after a mid-eighteenth century New Hampshire sampler, this piece is delightfully naive with its oversized animals, insects, and birds. Around 1760, the New-Hampshire Gazette began publishing advertisements for girls' schools, placed by female instructresses,... Read more
This American sampler was stitched on a loosely woven homespun linen with vegetable-dyed silk threads. Despite its size and simplicity, the design is striking, delicate, and well-balanced. Eunice Morton was born in 1783 in Gorham County, Maine. Sometime in 1809-1810, she married Jesse Harding, and... Read more
A unique four-sided geometric border is the highlight of this American sampler, consisting of nine rows of letters and numerals surrounded by a counted satin stitch sawtooth inner border. The design looks like something that might have inspired the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. I have not been able... Read more
Note from the designer - "At the age of fourteen, Mary Lee stitched this beautiful band sampler with a good assortment of flowers, birds, swans, squirrels, and other traditional motifs. Worked into the center of a band in tight, precise stitches, is the cautionary aphorism "In thy youth... Read more
Note from the designer - "A characteristically northern German sampler, this example from Hamburg consists of random symbolic spot motifs, with a unifying central scene and borders. Religious symbols are commonly found on almost all continental samplers, and Adam and Eve in particular is often... Read more
Note from the designer - "This sampler was made in St. Albans, Vermont. A naturalistic four-sided floral border surrounds a central reserve with alphabets and a pictorial scene. The house is so distinctive that it is probably a depiction of Amanda's own home. Made under the tutelage of B.... Read more
Note from the designer - "This unusual sampler is probably of Scottish origin. The distinctive French-inspired mansion house and the peacocks are commonly found on Scottish samplers. Adam and Eve are realistically stitched in the Garden, by effectively working two quite simple stitches together:... Read more
Note from the designer - "Several band samplers very similar to this one are in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London as well as in other important collections. This particular sampler came from the collection of The Scarlet Letter, and is now in a private collection. A... Read more
This letterndoek (lettering) form of Dutch sampler appears from the late 17th through the early 19th century. It is easy to recognize by its horizontal shape, and beautifully illuminated lettering, interspersed with various symbolic shapes and Biblical motifs. The color scheme used on so many of... Read more
Note from the designer - "Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Elisabeth Hoover and one other student of the former Mrs. Galligher of Lancaster are known to have named Mrs. Leah Bratten on their samplers in 1803. The twin Bratten sisters, Leah and Rachel, both married schoolmasters, kept schools with them,... Read more
This is a reproduction of an English sampler that features a four-sided carnation border, centering many intricate organic petit point motifs. The large mansion house dominates the central reserve, standing above an extensive pasture occupied by two very large and cockeyed sheep. These imaginative... Read more
Note from the designer: "This northern German sampler consists of random symbolic spot motifs, with a simple zigzag border. Religious symbols are commonly found on continental samplers. On this example, we find the wreath carried by angels (the wreath as a symbol for eternal life): the ship... Read more
Note from the designer: "Who would love this world or prize whats in it
that gives and takes and chops and changes every minute.
This brilliant English traditional band sampler comes from the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum. Drawing on traditional sampler motifs of the 17th... Read more
Note from the designer: "This original design blends a mid-18th century floral sampler border with a late 18th century lettering and cartouche style, and a mid-19th century sentiment. Instructions are provided for working the sampler in a different color scheme (red, blues, greens) on a neutral... Read more
Note from the designer: "This intricate and involved sampler features many traditional German sampler motifs dating from the sixteenth century including a large parrot, a peacock with silver tips on its wings, the Lamb of God, as well as a depiction of the Crucifixion flanked by Mother Mary and... Read more
Note from the designer - "This is a beautifully balanced, intensely stitched transitional sampler. Worked originally in brightly colored silk threads on a fine tammy (wool) ground, it features a repeating, four-sided carnation border, surrounding five horizontal bands interspersed by lines of... Read more
Note from the designer - "This sweet English sampler is the first I've ever seen with a border made up of flying cherubs. It also features a "geode" (mosaic) parrot- a distinctively stylized bird that appears on other samplers made in England, New England, and the Netherlands throughout... Read more
Note from the designer - "Acquired in England, one might assume that this classic Quaker motif sampler was made at the Ackworth School in Yorkshire. However the influence of the designs promulgated by the Quaker School needleworkers stretched far beyond the confines of the school's walls. This... Read more