Ann Gardner

This handsome and beautifully stitched sampler is an excellent and classic example of the great number of highly desirable samplers made in Scotland. It is signed, “Ann Gardner Sewed This in 1815,” and this inscription is worked around a wonderful two-tiered fountain with enormous birds perched on it. There are many specific characteristics and shared motifs that Scottish samplermakers employed and we always enjoy a sampler that presents these.

We consulted with the collector whose extraordinary website, antiquesamplers.org, includes over 250 Scottish samplers (with similar numbers of American and English samplers) to learn more about Ann’s sampler. It was most likely made in Glasgow as some of the characteristics are distinctly Glaswegian, specifically the stone house. In the blocks to the left and right of the house are references to Ann’s school and teachers, Mr. W and Mrs. A, another characteristic found on samplers from this region.

Many Scottish samplermakers, indeed it seems most, stitched the initials of their parents on their samplers. Ann included IG and IN on her work. These may be James Gardner and Janet Neilson who show up in Scottish records, but there is no way to be certain of this.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and black painted frame. 

photo of reverse