Miniature Sampler, British Isles, circa 1800
Price: $2600, Sampler size: 8" x 5½"

This wonderful miniature sampler exhibits the symmetrical composition typical of many samplers from the British Isles. Birds, urns of flowers, peacocks, flower baskets, and tiny dogs are placed on either side of a tree heavily laden with fruit and a stylized urn of flowers on a stepped lawn. A delicate undulating flowering vine forms a four-sided border.

The samplermaker stitched a pious verse, "Blessed is he that wisely doth / The poor man's case consider / For when the time of trouble is / The Lord will him deliver," which is the opening of Psalm 41. In the upper portion of the sampler she also inscribed several sets of initials, possibly her own and those of family members.

Great skill is exhibited in the very fine, small scale of this embroidery. Worked in vibrant colored silk on wool, it is in excellent condition with some very slight weakness, conservation mounted in a 19th century beveled mahogany veneer frame.