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 in a little wooden cart pulled by what appears to be a large dog, a big white rabbit, a bucolic scene with a fox in the foreground and a church in the background, a pergola or folly, a very fat bird on a swing, a ship at full sail, and many examples of Florentine patterns.  Stitches used are satin, Florentine, cross, petit point, and brick.  Excellent color and condition, a truly exceptional piece of work.  There is a verse inside a cartouche in the upper right that appears to be in Latin.

The sampler is framed in a magnificent monumental bird’s eye maple frame, possibly original. It is unglazed.  The sampler measures 22″ x 22-1/2″, with the frame is 26-1/2″ x 27″.