There is so much going on in this fascinating English sampler that it's hard to know where to begin looking. Apart from the somewhat conventional Adam and Eve at the top center, adorable flying cherubs flank them and the apple tree, bearing gold rings and sprays of flowers. The verse is as... Read more
This is a pleasantly quirky, colorful sampler likely stitched in the north of England judging by some of the Scottish influences in the design. A four sided strawberry border surrounds an alphabet and a pious verse above a geometric pattern band. Below this is a scenic register with trees, birds,... Read more
This English sampler was made in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, featuring the Sheffield General Infirmary, a verse, a fashionably dressed man and woman, and a collection of animals in the lawn in front (sheep, fox, squirrels, rabbit, dog), all surrounded by a four sided berry border.
Note from the designer - "Elizabeth Eaton finished her sampler on the 21st of July in 1712. She used bold, primary colors suggestive of Scottish influence. The original sampler was stitched with both silk and fine wool threads on linen using cross, eyelet, rice, queen, herringbone, double... Read more
Adapted from an English sampler dated 1783. The original sampler from which this piece was adapted measures 15 1/2" x 12 1/2", and was stitched over one thread of linen on approximately 50-thread-count glazed linen. The house on the left alone, which measures 71 by 62 squares on the graph,... Read more
Note from the designer - "This beautiful. petite, energetic sampler expressed three fine verses and, at the end, one of the truest "signatures" I've ever read on a piece of needlework:
By this ingenous Maids
may see what by the
needl wrought
may be
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 - "Elizabeth Mansfield finished her sampler in England on 13th June 1792, during the reign of King George III (1760-1820: note the cushioned crown in the upper third, marked on either side by the initials G R for George Rex). The original sampler was stitched on a very... Read more
According to a note attached to the back of the original sampler, it was probably made near Newtown, Pennsylvania. The attribution at the center is surrounded by a typical Quaker leafy cartouche with opposing flowers and facing birds above. Other characteristic Quaker motifs include eight point... Read more
Note from the designer: "This band sampler was designed after a piece in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, most remarkable for the colorful, solidly filled geometric and floral sections. It also features double running stitch sections found on Italian embroideries of the sixteenth and... Read more
Note from the designer: "A Pennsylvania German sampler that may not be, strictly speaking, a miniature, but is nonetheless small for its type. Typical Pennsylvania German folk culture motifs - birds, trees, hearts, flowers, crowns and stars - adorn it."
Note from the designer: "Adapted from a mid eighteenth century English sampler. The combination of several unusual stitch techniques with bold primary colors, makes this sampler outstandingly beautiful and a rewarding project to stitch.
While the majority is done in cross stitch, large... Read more
The Temperance Movement of the early nineteenth century began in the United States prior to 1808. Preachers, most notably John Bartholomew Gough, promulgated a pledge of abstinence from members of his congregation. While temperance efforts have existed as long as spirits have, the movement was not... Read more
Note from the designer: "A gift from the collection of Rosalind and Edwin Miller to the museum. Emma Lerch was born in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in 1830, and she stitched this sampler in her thirteenth year. It is a very simple work, with a lovely meandering floral border. While perhaps... Read more
Band samplers of the 17th century exhibit the widest range of stitches and techniques. Counted thread stitches on linen were artfully combined with panels of floral, geometric, or figural cut and drawn work- a technique where the background threads of linen are carefully bound, then cut and pulled... Read more
This sweet little American sampler features two little houses above alphabets and a short verse:
Would you be wise
Each moment prize
It is surrounded on four sides by a double sided satin stitched sawtooth border. Stitches used include cross, outline, stem filling, counted... Read more
Fanny Hancock's father, Ebenezer Hancock, was cousin to the famous John Hancock. Born in 1785, Fanny sewed her sampler at age 11. She married Nathaniel Parker of Boston in 1803, and died in 1834. The colors on the back side of her sampler retained much of their original brilliance, and are... Read more
Note from the designer: "Our own original design created in collaboration with Terry Meinke, draws upon the needlework traditions of two centuries, in both England and America. The idyllic landscape and more naturalistic figures (as opposed to the blocky shapes of later figures on American... 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
Note from the designer: "The characteristic that readily identifies the origin of this sampler is the distinctive vine and rose border, configured such that a leaf on one side and a rosebud stem on the other give the illusion of a double vine. It is almost always found executed in cross stitch... Read more
What makes this early Victorian English sampler so intriguing are the wonderfully naive figures of Adam, Eve and St. Michael flanking the Tree of Life. St. Michael's sword is drawn to slay the serpent, but he hardly looks formidable with his large feet and doughy body. Playskool-like Adam and Eve... Read more
Note from the designer: "This sampler was probably made in Rhode Island, a poor sister, perhaps, to the magnificent creations coming out of the girls' schools in Newport, Providence and Bristol at this same period, but bearing some similar "signatures". The squat, long-tailed bird at the... Read more
This sampler features two uncommon verses taken from the book Sentences and Maxims Divine, Moral and Historical, in Prose and Instruction of Human Life: and Particularly for the Improvement of Youth in Good Sence and correct English by George Shelley, published in London in 1712.
"Jesus permit thy Gracious name to stand as the first effort of an infant hand. And while her fingers on the canvas move, engage her tender thoughts to seek thy love. With thy dear children, let her have a part and write thy name thyself upon her heart."
Note from the designer: "This finely worked sampler features pastoral scenes above and below a lovely verse about friendship. A four-sided honeysuckle border surrounds large baskets of fruits and flowers, a fenced pasture with seven large lazy sheep and an architectural folly in the background.... Read more
Note from the designer: "This American band sampler was originally worked in Lynn, Massachusetts. Hannah Breed is mentioned in Bolton and Coe's authoritative book American Samplers. Rows of lettering are intermixed with a row of sheep and cows, a verse, and floral bands. The verse says:
Note from the designer: "Hannah Mosher was born March 12th, 1786, in Hollis, New Hampshire, the fourth and last child of Abijah and Hannah Mosher. On March 7, 1813, she married the Rev. Walter Chapin of Woodstock, Vermont. Apart from this sketchy biographical information, found in the History of... Read more
Note from the designer: "From Dover, Massachusetts, comes Harriot Boardman's sampler, originally worked on a distinctive green linsey-woolsey found only on some North Shore samplers. A three-sided sawtooth border surrounds alphabet and numeral tests with geometric cross bands, two deer with... Read more
Note from the designer: "A beautiful meandering four-sided floral border in an unusually rich color palette surrounds this traditional Scottish sampler, also featuring a beautiful arcaded floral band at the top and a substantial mansion house in the lower register. Trees, tulips and flying birds... Read more
Note from the designer: "The figures depicted on this original design were derived from wood block engravings of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The format of the hornbook follows actual examples from the late 18th century. Hornbooks functioned as primers, used to teach young children their... Read more
Note from the designer: "German and Dutch samplers are known for their iconography, especially the symbolic religious motifs. This piece, reproduced from the collection of the Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania, portrays many of these motifs. Adam and Eve, in particular, are often... Read more
Note from the designer: "This Scottish sampler features many distinguishing characteristics of samplers made in that country, most notably the arcaded pansy band across the top third, the four-sided floral border with double running stitch flourishes, and the famous mansion house. Of this large... Read more
Displaying the traditional color scheme of Scottish samplers, this beautiful and delicately stitched piece also employs a variety of interesting counted thread stitches including queen, doublerunning, four-sided, back, counted satin filling, cross, Algerian eyelet, and cross over one (petit... Read more
This is a very finely stitched classic Scottish sampler featuring three complete rows of beautifully illuminated letters, an arcaded floral band as well as other traditional motifs including peacocks, birds drinking at the fountain of life, feather trees and family initials. A four sided berry... Read more
Note from the designer: "Samplers worked with black backgrounds are unique to New England, and this one is designed after a late 18th century Massachusetts piece. A portly clergyman is depicted strolling between a fashionable lady under a parasol, and a church or meeting -house; with a frisky... Read more
Rose's unusual middle name should have provided some clues about where she was born, and where she lived, but the name "Shenamon" is elusive despite my efforts to discover its origins as well as hers. It is spelled many different ways when researched (including Shinimon and Schinnamon which... Read more
This English sampler comes from the collection of the late Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Jarrett, who established Witney Antiques. It was featured in one of their exhibition catalogs in December 1996 titled "All Creatures Great and Small."
The work is extremely fine and accomplished,... 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 a reproduction of a Quaker sampler made in Chester County, Pennsylvania consisting of alphabets, numerals, ligatures* and lineal patterns executed in a variety of stitches. The uppermost border with the dangling central flower is often seen on American Quaker samplers of this period (see... Read more
This English sampler features a three-sided floral border surrounding thirteen lines of alphabets, neatly cross-stitched in several different lettering styles. Mary Wagstaff was likely born in Huyton, Lancashire in 1809, completing this sampler when she was ten years old. She passed away in... Read more
A sampler from the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England.
Skill and expertise in sampler-making did not necessarily peak in the mid-to-late seventeenth century and then wane during what is often called the "golden age" of English sampler-making. These skills... 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
Here is a dainty and colorful mid-eighteenth-century English sampler executed entirely in cross and petit point stitches making it a suitable project for any skill level.
A four-sided arcaded border of daisies and dianthus surrounds three pious verses with delicate horizontal floral bands... Read more
Flora and fauna were highly celebrated in nearly all 17th and 18th century pictorial embroideries. Executed entirely in cross or tent (half cross) stitches, the embroidered pictures embellished cushions and furniture and reflected a changing attitude toward domestic comforts, by serving to brighten... Read more
The canvaswork piece from which this bell pull was derived is a book cover, and dates to the first quarter of the 17th century. square tent stitched vignettes, reproduced here in the panels of the bell pull covered the book's spine vertically. It seems appropriate that the allegorical figures of... Read more
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