Pictorial Sampler,
Scotland,
1809

Sampler size:
21½" x 17¼"

Price: $6800

Enlarged and Printer Version

This large sampler, with its generous pictorial scenes, can be appreciated for its unusual composition, its folky imagery and its excellent needlework. A well-developed scene dominates the lower half of the sampler, with a detailed house, leafy trees and little birds flying about, typical of the same house, trees and birds that can be found on some of the finest Scottish samplers. The lawn, worked in wool, is populated with large birds with smaller birds perched upon one of them, a whimsical basket of flowers and berries and a little black dog. The area above the house features the coat-of-arms of the United Kingdom with the British Lion and the Unicorn of Scotland; in this case the shield contains a listing of family initials and the date, 1809.

The upper register presents a huge scalloped vase filled with flowers, grape bunches, thistles and birds. A gentleman, bearing the initials BG, with a little blue dog and a very little brown deer appears along with his counterpart, a lady in a plaid skirt with her basket. A pair of peacocks fills the space below and birds in scalloped oval enclosures fill the space above. The name "Mrs. Reid," likely that of the instructress, is nestled into the oval on the right. An extravagant border of berries on a stylized leafy vine provides an ample framework on three sides.

The sampler was worked in silk and wool on wool and is in excellent condition with some minor weakness to the wool. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine beveled figured maple frame.

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