Antique Samplers

Very finely stitched sampler, either Scottish or English, with a very unusual horizontal band of boxers across the top as well as stylized lions and 17th-century type motifs, executed in counted satin and double running stitch: quite an anomaly. A four-sided honeysuckle border conforms more to the date. The sampler is executed in cross, double…

English sampler framed in an old wood frame with rippled, old glass, stitched to linen with wood backing (frame likely original). The sampler is worked in silk on linen ground in cross, petit point, outline, and back stitches. A meandering and greek key border surrounds an elaborate vase of flowers and a short verse. Very…

Very finely stitched English sampler with a four sided floral border, with six pious verses, a lovely horizontal arcaded floral band, above a large basket full of colorful flowers surrounded by ten flying birds and beautifully undulating leafy trees. Very good condition and color (some holes in the outermost borders, but the sampler has been…

Very fine English sampler with a large central motif of elaborately cross-stitched roses, with pious verses on either side. Adam and Eve are stitched at the top with cherubs flying above them along with the moon and stars, elaborate crowns, and evergreen trees on either side. There are two brick houses in the lower register…

Very finely stitched Scottish sampler featuring the traditional mansion house seen on so many Scottish samplers of this period, with an extensive garden and stone walls. It is curiously flanked by an exotic cow and a soldier. There is a four-sided floral border executed in cross and double running stitches. Above the house is an…

Probably Scottish sampler on a loosely woven homespun linen with a four-sided floral border and two rows of alphabets and numerals. Familial initials (WC, JC, AC, among others) are interspersed with heart motifs. The lower register features two peacocks facing a tree, surrounded by more birds and foliage. The condition is very good but faded.…

Catherine’s samplers were made in 1796 (the simpler one) and 1798. The latter sampler features two verses with freehand stitched floral bands above a delightful scene depicting a gentleman standing on a dock extending a bouquet of flowers to a lady standing behind the Dutch door of a brick cottage, surrounded by a body of…

What an amazing sampler this is, with text interspersed with elaborate motifs in a wide variety of stitches. Mary Green made this sampler at Mrs Lear’s school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, demonstrating a high level of skill using cross, satin, stem, petit point, queen, straight and back stitches for a variety of unusual motifs including…

An English sampler featuring a large flower basket and two matching bookend houses, surrounded by an elaborate four sided floral and leafy border. The lettering style is Quaker. The color is excellent. Stitches used are cross and petit point. There are some small holes in the background linen. Sampler is 15″ x 13″, with frame…

A Scottish sampler executed with wool and silk on linen, featuring many traditional Scottish needlework motifs including an arcaded pansy band across the top, illuminated letters, family initials, peacocks, “stacked” trees, and a fine stone mansion house. A soldier and a woman flank the house with birds, crowns, and plants around them as well as…

An “Adam and Eve” sampler, probably English, with a four sided berry border surrounding various pictorial elements, most prominently an enormous white cat and a grand house atop a groomed lawn, flanked by an enormous white sheep on the left and a brown horned cow on the right. Stitches used are cross, petit point and…

This is an English sampler depicting “Joseph and Mary’s Flight into Egypt” in the lower register. Joseph with a red beard carries a lantern and leads a donkey bearing Mary. The scene is flanked by two fruiting trees, as well as lions, dogs and sheep. In the central register, elongated female figures flank stags and…