Heloise Bruhiere, Rouen, France, 1822
Price: $3400, Sampler size: 15¾" x 12¼"

This finely worked and endearing sampler was made in 1822 in Rouen, a city northwest of Paris, and is signed by its maker, Heloise Bruhiere. She featured a wonderful assortment of pictorial elements as well as a fine scene of a stately house, a barn and a woman with her dog. Trees, birds and butterflies further decorate this scene. French samplers surface infrequently as the tradition of samplermaking was not integral to the education of young French girls.

Specific details included by Heloise are particularly appealing. Note the ladder that appears along the side of the barn, the smoke coming form two of the chimneys of the house and the walking stick carried by the woman. It seems likely that this was a depiction of the maker's home rather than a generic scene assigned by a teacher.

Worked in silk on wool, the sampler is in excellent condition and it has been conservation mounted into a beveled pine frame.