Antique Samplers

This English sampler is closely related to others, some in the collection of The Scarlet Letter, and surely was the product of a skilled and inspired teacher. Similarities between these samplers include the intricate satin and stem stitched floral borders, the chenille detailing in the flora, finely executed satin and stem stitched architectural details, as…

Probably American, this naive sampler is stitched with silk threads on homespun, unbleached linen with eight rows of alphabets and numerals separated by geometric pattern bands. The verse: There is beyond the sky A heav’n of Joy And Love and holy children when they do go to the wold (sic) Above. Hannah Sills Ended This…

SCOTTISH CUT AND DRAWN WORK SAMPLER, circa 1800, probably executed at a school in Glasgow, backed with green silk. Unframed, good condition. 8-1/4″ x 5″.

Scottish sampler featuring many spot motifs including birds, trees, flowers, dogs, alphabets, family initials, a verse and a peacock within a cartouche lower center. The verse reads: While thus my fingers o’er the canvas roamThe letters form or teach the flowers to blowOh may my soul as pure to world’s aboveAnd learn betimes eternal things…

This band sampler stitched with silk on linen is in superb condition, and demonstrates many of the motifs popular on samplers of this period. It appears never to have been framed or folded, and retains very good color on the front, and excellent color on the back. It has been mounted between two sheets of…

A Spanish Sampler This exquisite Spanish sampler consists of four vertical pattern bands stitched on one piece of fine linen using multicolored silks. The bands demonstrate an astonishing variety of stitches and techniques, all expertly executed, including Aztec, faggot, braid stitch, drawn thread, dove’s eye, cross, double running, and counted satin, to name just a…

This pictorial sampler illustrates the flight of Joseph and Mary into Egypt, accompanied by Christmas themed verses: Bright Angels sung on that happy mornGlory to God a saviour’s bornHe lived he bled he died upon the treeHe reigns in heaven to intercede for me. The sampler has two additional verses: Glory to God in the…

A British Colonial Sampler This elaborate sampler featuring a fearsome tiger, a plantation house covered in trellises and tropical vines, a peacock, a pea hen, rooster and butterflies, was probably stitched in Africa or India by a British girl. The lovely four sided border consists of flowers filled in with counted satin stitch. The plantation…

This is probably the upper half of what was once a magnificent sampler stitched on fine tiffany cloth with silk flosses. It features a fine mansion house fronted by extensive lawns, a driveway, an elaborate stag and bird and a magnificent tree. Stitches used are stem filling, cross, straight, counted and freehand satin stitches. The…

Finely stitched English sampler with two verses: OF EASTER and OF WHITSUNDAY surrounded by a beautiful and unusual floral borders executed in cross and satin stitches. The attribution at the bottom is “E. GIRTON GOVERNESS NEWARK”. Inside the lower cartouche it reads: Mary Pickering work wrought in the fourteenth year of her age in the…

This very finely stitched petit point canvaswork picture of a blue and white urn burgeoning with naturalistic flowers (carnations, tulips, periwinkles, daisies, chrysanthemums) was probably made as a chair back, or a fire screen. It is signed with the initials “MC”. It has been professionally cleaned and conserved by Frances Faile, and is museum mounted…

De-accessioned from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this delightful sampler has been professionally conserved by museum staff. It’s not in great condition, it isn’t framed, but it has been stabilized. It features a four sided floral border, with Adam and Eve as the focal point alongside a tree of life with a realistic raised work…