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
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 - "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
Note from the designer: "This sampler is a fine example of work done by Pennsylvania German girls in the early-to-mid nineteenth century. Similar motifs appear on the show towels that decorated kitchen and bedroom doors in these immigrant German households. It is thought that while the show... 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: "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
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 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: "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
This is a very fine example of an early northern Dutch sampler called a letterndoek, or alphabet sampler. The illuminated letters are typical of northern Holland needleworks. Symbolic spot motifs include dogs, a stag, trees of life, and paired birds.
A RED BRICK MANSION HOUSE is at the center of this wildly engaging English sampler featuring a small
zoo/conservatory/aviary of flora and fauna as interpreted by an exceptionally talented young
woman of the early nineteenth century. The verse is common enough on nineteenth-century samplers, unlike... Read more
Note from the designer: "The flight into Egypt is a biblical event described in the Gospel of Matthew. Soon after Mary and Jesus were visited by the Magi, who had learned that King Herod intended to kill the male infants in that region, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee... 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
This 19th century American reproduction sampler features a brown bird on a tree branch. Rated for beginners. Model stitched on 35 count hand dyed linen using either cotton or silk thread. Two versions of the sampler graph have been furnished: one executed with a drawn partially freehand split and... 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 - "Mary Bailey stitched this sampler in England and finished it in 1818. It demonstrates an advanced level of skill given the symmetry of the design and its many diverse elements: a red brick mansion house with four chimneys- a sign of wealth in early 19th century England,... 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
Note from the designer - "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... Read more
Note from the designer - "Designed after an early eighteenth century tent stitched picture, this expansive needlework scene depicts many episodes in the life of an affluent English family including its elaborate parterre and gardens, a stately brick and stone house, domestic, exotic and wild... Read more
Note from the designer - "This little needlework was likely made as a panel of a "huswif"/aka a "housewife", which was an embroidered, double-sided vertical series of pockets made to hold needleworking supplies. It could be folded up or hung from a peg for swift access to the... 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
This is a beautiful sampler from Norwich (Norfolk, United Kingdom), possibly stitched at a school run by one Mrs. Wright or her descendent (hence the initials "MW" below Elizabeth's name in the attribution). A list of teachers in Norwich in 1783 includes Wright, Massey, and Cheetleburgh. The... Read more
Note from the designer - "ANN WHITTAKER created an almost comically theatrical sampler depicting Adam and Eve, angels, pious verses, and elaborate meandering vines beneath dramatic multi-colored draperies and tassels. Hovering over the verse which is framed by large columns, are two angels with... Read more
Note from the designer - "This sampler shows a man and a woman beneath an apple tree, reminiscent of Adam and Eve, but in contemporary dress. Possibly of New York origin (the format and background suggest this), this reproduction is stitched on linen with either cotton or silk, with the... 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 - "Although there has not been the extensive research and study of English Quaker samplers as there has been of their American counterparts, we believe that this sampler was created under the tutelage of a Quaker sewing instructress in England. The fine bleached linen and... Read more
Note from the designer - "So many unusual and enigmatic features were left by Ann Carbutt on her sampler, made when she was sixteen years old, very likely in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The surname "Carbutt" is first found in Cheshire after the... 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 very delicate Scottish sampler with its bold color scheme was designed with a four sided stylized honeysuckle border surrounding horizontal rows of illuminated alphabets and double running stitch motifs. The extensive use of double running stitch lends the sampler... 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 wonderful English sampler has to be an original inspired composition by a very clever young girl with a singular artistic vision! Potbellied cherubs fly trumpeting alongside a doughy, asexual Adam and Eve, beneath whom perch an enormous plumed Bird of Paradise on a... Read more
Note from the designer - "As the purpose for making samplers evolved over the decades and the centuries, so did its form. This beautiful early 18th century English band sampler retains the shape of her predecessors, but has clearly changed into a form distinctly recognizable as a product of her... Read more
In the upper register of this finely stitched English sampler there is featured an unusual vignette of Adam and Eve beneath the tree of life (with a menacing black faced serpent) flanked by mirror image brick cottages, followed by a pious verse:
Note from the designer - "This Quaker sampler came from the vicinity of York, England, where a Quaker school existed at the same time as the more famous Ackworth School, not far from there. The Parnell name is still fairly common in the district, and the family was Quaker.
Linen count and finished size: 35-count 18-3/4" x 24"; or 40 count 16-1/2" x 21"
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.
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
This sampler is a fanciful adaptation of 19th century American and English sampler motifs. Fluffy white sheep are outstanding on a large green lawn that stretches between two elegant red brick houses that are flanked by flying eagles. Needlework pictures of this type can be considered as traditional... 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 - "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