Sarah Holl, England, 1805
Price: $2400, Sampler Size: 17" x 12½"

This lovely sampler, worked by Sarah Holl and dated 1805, boasts an outstanding palette of colors - pink, green, light brown, cream and pale blue silk threads were used throughout and to excellent advantage. Lavish use of the eyelet stitch attests to the maker's aptitude in the needle arts and adds to the appeal of this sampler, which is reminiscent of the fine work that had appeared on sophisticated English samplers for centuries at that point.

Horizontal bands of tiny arches form the top and bottom borders and vines of berries form the side borders. The samplermaker worked a large and handsome pot of pendulant flowers and on either side inscribed a moralistic verse expressing her religious faith. Further motifs include small pots of flowers, little birds and an outstanding row of striped diamond elements.

Worked in silk on linen, this handsome sampler remains in excellent condition, conservation mounted in a black molded frame.