Eliza Woods, Pettigo School, Ireland, 1849
Price: $1600, Sampler size: 11½" x 7¼"

Pettigo is a very small coastal town in Northern Ireland, located 15 miles southeast of Donegal. An 1854 publication entitled Handbook for Travelers in Ireland by James Fraser indicates that Pettigo was situated in a hilly, rough rural area of tiny islets, accessible only by dirt roads unfit for carriages of any sort. The population, in 1841, was 616. We find it remarkable that a school which taught samplermaking existed there, and are pleased to offer this handsome little sampler that serves to document this. Eliza Woods, working in 1849 at age 12, inscribed a quotation from the King James Bible and stitched a large crown to illustrate it. A swan, bird, butterfly and a fruit basket provide further embellishment.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a period beveled and painted black frame.