Antique Samplers

ELIZABETH FOSTER 1747English sampler stitched in silk on fine tammy cloth retaining excellent color with two rows of alphabets and three beautiful floral pattern bands with three verses interspersed.The sampler has suffered some losses but is now carefully mounted over modern linen that blends very well with the original ground. There is damage to the…

An 18th-century English sampler featuring motifs from the 17th century, done in a variety of stitches including cross, double running, diagonal eyelet, queen, petit point, counted satin, and buttonhole. An elegantly dressed lady holding a fan addresses a gentleman with a bouquet of flowers alongside verses from Psalms 13, 14, and 15. Below each figure…

Late 17th/Early 18th Century English/Continental Tent Stitch Picture, circa 1700 Stitched with silk and fine wool on canvas, the scene depicts an elephant pulling a cart through a lush landscape with a mansion house in the distance. The needlework has darkened, but areas of bright silk delineate many of the motifs. There are three small…

CURRENTLY UNDER OFFER GRACE FOWLER 1749 An English George II sampler This petite sampler (8-1/2″ square) is so finely stitched that the thread count must be approximately 55 threads per inch.  It has been executed with cross and tent stitches with silk on fine linen. The color is excellent, the condition is very good apart…

CB: dated 1854   Probably Continental (German or Danish)   This extraordinary spot sampler (I’ve never seen anything like it, in or outside of a museum) is stitched with silk on linen, absolutely covered with Berlin-style vignettes and patterns.  You can see a cat, a large sleeping dog, a leaping trout, an ostrich, two children…

Sampler made in northern England with a three-sided floral border, comprising thirteen lines of alphabet neatly cross stitched in several different styles.  The sampler is in excellent condition, framed in a 19th-century rosewood cushion moulded frame. Preliminary research suggests that Mary Wagstaff was born in Huyton, Lancashire, in 1809.  She possibly died in Warrington under…

This is an English or Scottish sampler completed April 18 (no year noted) stitched with silk threads on homespun linen, incorporating cross, eyelet, four sided and petit point stitches. The unusual borders are composed of alphabets, numerals and sets of initials. The two large alphabets are executed in four sided and eyelet stitches. Five crowns…

ANN BRAZIER 1804 An English pictorial sampler worked with silk on linen featuring a large depiction of pink Adam and Eve alongside the tree of life with a freehand stem stitched serpent.  They stand on a green lawn with sheep, a rabbit, dogs, and a bird.  The four-sided floral border has satin stitched rosebuds at…

A very fine English sampler finished “August the 21, 1730”The sampler begins with two lines of alphabets, numerals, the date, and attribution followed by another alphanumeric line. There are five more lines executed in cross, herringbone, and eyelet stitches, followed by two lines of alphabets executed in eyelet stitches. The verses are:Love and a crown…

Created in 1712 with bold primary colors suggestive of Scottish embroideries, in silk and wool threads on a linen ground, using cross, eyelet, rice, queen, herringbone and double running stitches.

SARAH CARNABEY 1766 This is an exquisitely stitched English sampler worked with brightly colored silk threads on fine linen in a variety of stitches, including cross, eyelet, petit point, and back/double running.  A four-sided floral border surrounds two rows of cross-stitched alphabets and one row of eyelet-stitched numerals.  The verse is: O may I always…

“MS” dated 1752 An early Scottish band sampler featuring many classic 17th pattern bands, executed in a variety of stitches including cross, eyelet, petit point, double running, counted satin, back, and queen, in fine wool and silk threads on linen.  Below the illuminated alphabet there is a gentleman standing above the lower lines which are…