Antique Samplers

This English samplers was made when Elizabeth was only eight years old. There is an unusual coat of arms in the top quarter depicting a crowned lion and a unicorn flanking a large crown, with this verse below it: Range where you please in WaterEarth and Air. God is in everything and every where A…

The story of Harlequin and Colombina (Columbine) originated in Italy in the early 17th century in the Commedia dell’Arte. Colombina’s father, Pantaloon, a greedy and foolish merchant of Venice, tries to separate the lovers, and Harlequin, in a black mask, spends most of his time plotting mischief. By the end of the 18th century the…

An English Adam and Eve sampler This wonderfully busy sampler is filled with many traditional and some quite unusual motifs including a coat of arms at the top, an oversized shepherd and shepherdess, woodpeckers, stylized gazebos, fluttering cherubs, squirrels, crows, and Adam and Eve beside the Tree of Life. A four sided meandering floral border…

Possibly from New York, and formerly in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Whitman sampler collection). The sampler is executed in cross stitch on linen, with a four-sided meandering floral border in shades of gold, red, brown, blue-green, ivory, black and dark red. A large naturalistic flower basket is at the center. The…

Sweet English sampler with a four sided berry border centering an eight line verse and various spot motifs including parrots, butterflies, geese and potted plants, with a curious little building at the bottom center that could be a chapel, a gatehouse or a folly. The verse comes from “Hymns for Children” by Charles Wesley (published…

An English sampler featuring an elaborate building, “Sheffield General Infirmary” flanked by a nicely outfitted couple, standing on grassy lawns and a driveway. There is a four sided floral border, and a verse: O that my load of sin were goneO that i Could at last submitAt Jesus Feet to lay it DownTo lay my…

Elizabeth Graham stitched her sampler on homespun linen. and apparently the sampler was never framed but safely stored away. The colors of the silk on the back of the sampler are the same as on the front. The sampler has been float mounted on linen in a period style frame. The stitches used in the…

English pictorial sampler worked in fine silk on tammy cloth featuring Adam and Eve and the Tree of Life at the center, with bucolic country scenes below including a four storey mansion house, a gentleman farmer with his dog, fields with cows and sheep and a pond. Surrounding the central Adam and Eve are many…

An English sampler very finely worked on linen with silk. featuring a four sided multi floral border surrounding a central reserve with large trees, squirrels, potted flowers, trees, and a verse: The Saviour who in Glory reignsWho made the earth and seasWhose arm unnumbered worlds sustainWas once a child like me He stooped so low…

Probably English sampler stitched on lossely woven linen with a four sided berry border, featuring windmills, human figures, insects, tulips and birds. The verse: Dear Mother I am young and cannot shewSuch work as I unto your goodness oweBe pleased to smile at this my small endeavourI’ll strive to learn and to be obedient ever…

The unusual circling alphabets and brilliant satin stitching distinguish this sampler, probably made in the village of Brozas in Caceres. Extremadura, Spain. The inscription reads: LO HIZO ANTONIA GONZALEZDISCIPVLA DE MISRA M(e) TRADA LVCIA SHZ DE BUSTA-MANTE BROZASSI AGOSTO DE 1842 This says that the sampler was made by Antonia Gonzalez in August of the…

English sampler enclosed by three four sided borders featuring five rows of alphabets and numerals, and three verses. Stitches used are cross and eyelet. The moralistic verses are: Learn to cotemn all praise betimesFor flattery is the nurse of crimesWith early virtue plant thy BreastThe specious Arts of vice detest Virtue is the chiefest beauty…