VOLUME XXX/
A SELECTED OFFERING OF ANTIQUE SAMPLERS AND NEEDLEWORK
est. 1947
M. Finkel e:J Daughter. AMERICA'S LEADING ANTIQUE SAMPLER & NEEDLEWORK DEALER
936 Pine Street. Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. 19107-6128 215-627-7797. 800-598-7432. fax 215-627-8199 www.samplings.com
Please visit our website: www.samplings.com
detail of sampler by Caroline Darling, Marlborough, Massachusetts, 1819, page 6
detail of sampler by Mary Eastman, Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1804, page 33
CopyrightŠ 2007 by M. Finkel & Daughter, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without the permission in writing from M. Finkel & Daughter, Inc. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Welcome to our Samplings catalogue, Volume XXXI ...
We hope that you enjoy this catalogue, our 31th issue, and we thank all of you for your continued and growing interest in this field. Schoolgirl samplers and needlework provide fascinating opportunities to collectors. A sampler acts as a window into the specific history of a young girl, her family, a teacher, a town, a region, and a tradition, and as such provides us with unusual insight. It goes without saying that samplers, from a simple marking piece to an elaborate scene, are also extremely visually appealing. Each of our samplers has been fully researched and documented; it is well-known that we both conduct ourselves and have others engage in intensive genealogical research and often achieve important results. When we describe a sampler or silk embroidery, we frequently refer to a number of fine books that have been written in this field. A selected bibliography is included at the end of the catalogue and is updated regularly. If any of these books prove difficult to procure, let us know and perhaps we can assist in locating them. We also include a description page about our conservation methods and encourage you to call us with any questions in this area. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of our firm. We continue to value our positive relationships with clients, many of whom are now second generation, and strive to maintain our commitment to customer service. Buying antiques should be based in large measure on trust and confidence, and we try to treat each customer as we ourselves like to be treated. We operate by appointment and are at the shop Monday through Friday, and are avaialable on weekends, except when we are exhibiting at antiques shows. Please let us know of your plans to visit us. We suggest that you contact us in a timely fashion if one or more of our samplers is of interest to you. Please let us know if you would like us to email you better photos than appear in this catalogue. The majority of the pieces in the catalogue have not yet appeared on our website so as to give our catalogue subscribers the advantage of having a first look. Should your choice be unavailable, we would be happy to discuss your collecting objectives with you. Our inventory is extensive, and we have many other samplers that are not included in our catalogue but which are on our website. Moreover, through our sources, we may be able to locate the sampler that you are looking for; you will find us knowledgeable and helpful. Payment may be made by check, VISA, Mastercard, or American Express. Pennsylvania residents should add 6% sales tax. All items are sold with a five day return privilege. Expert packing is included: shipping and insurance costs are extra. We prefer to ship via UPS ground or Federal Express air, insured. We look forward to your phone calls and your interest.
www.samplings.com Please check our website for frequent updates
Amy Finkel Morris Finkel Jamie Banks mailbox@samplings.com 800-598-7432
Are you interested in selling? We are constantly purchasing antique samplers and needlework and would like to know what you have for sale. We can purchase outright or act as your agent. Photographs sent to us will receive our prompt attention. Call us for more information.
AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF CONTENTS Basket of Strawberries, England, circa 1850 ...................................... 18 Elizabeth H. Beale, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1832 ............................ 23 Anna H. Brown, Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana, 1844 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 CCHF, Pictorial Motif sampler, Hamburg, Germany, 1823 ........................... 14 Pair of Miniature Samplers, Elizabeth Coleman, London, England, circa 1805 ........... 28 Caroline Darling, Marlborough, Massachusetts, 1819 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Mary Eastman, Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1804 ................................. 33 Silk embroidery, France, circa 1810 ............................................. 22 Geffroy Family Print-work Silk Embroidery, Balch School, Providence, RI, c. 1818 ....... 27 South German sampler, MDC, circa 1740 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Mary Harr, C. Jon's school, Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, 1833 ....................... 29 Tacy Jane Hixson, Loudon County, Virginia, 1833 .................................. 16 Jane Hughes, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1804 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Mary Jones, Abington, Montgomery Co., Pennsylvania, 1799 ......................... 17 Kandy School Missionary Sampler, Ceylon, 1884 ................................... 19 Elinor Theresa Kelly, St. Joseph's Academy silk embroidery, Emmitsburg, MD, 1826 . . . . . 1 Lydia Kintzi, Pennsylvania German, circa 1850 .................................... 31 Martha Levering, Roxborough, Pennsylvania, 1828 ................................. 30 Caroline Lewis, Pepperell, Massachusetts, 1827 .................................... 21 Hectorina McKenzie, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1794 .................................. 11 Miniature Silk Embroidery, Mary and Her Lamb, England, circa 1800 ................. 12 Hannah E. Moore, Easton School, Burlington County, New Jersey, 1822 ............... 13 Caroline Noble, Chelsea, Orange County, Vermont, 1834 ............................ 26 Harriot Parker, Pepperell, Massachusetts, 1808 .................................... 20 MargretRodge~Scotlan~ 1805 ................................................ 10 Relief Shumway, Hardwick, Massachusetts, 1822 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Mary E. Smith, Baltimore, Maryland, 1841 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Silk Embroidery of "Swords into Ploughshares," New England, circa 1800 .............. 15 Mary Almira Tingley, Providence, Rhode Island, 1829 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Beadwork from Turkish Prisoners of War, 1916 .................................... 18 Maria Van Wyk, Dutch Darning Sampler, Holland, 1762 ............................. 32 Sarah E. Walker, New England, 1830 ............................................ 25 Sarah Ann Ward, England, 1815 ................................................ 25 Mary Ann West, Mercer County, New Jersey, 1828 .................................. 12 Ann Williams, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1827 ............................ 24 Ann Wright, England, 1840 .................................................... 28
detail of sampler by Margret Rodger, Scotland, 1805, page 10
M. Finkel e:J Daughter. A.\1ERlcx
LEADIN G sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Elinor Theresa Kelly, St. Joseph's Academy silk embroidery, Emmitsburg, laryland, 1826
St. Joseph's Academy, a Catholic girls' school, was established in 1809 in remote Frederick County, Maryland, by Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, who began life as a society belle and later became the first American-born saint of the Catholic Church. In Girlhood Embroidery, vol. II, Betty Ring, states that Mrs. Seton "was born an Episcopalian in New York City, and it was after marriage and widowhood that the young mother of five was converted to Catholicism at the age of thirty. She then undertook teaching as a means of support, but distrust of her newly adopted religion thwarted her teaching efforts in New York, and being assured of greater acceptance among the Catholics of Baltimore, moved there in June of 1808." Mrs. Ring further writes that she embraced the ideology of the French Daughters of Charity and, with four other women, took their vows, thus establishing this order in America. They obtained support for a fledging girls' boarding school and journeyed to the wildness, fifty miles from Baltimore, to open their school.
AMERicA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
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Elinor Theresa Kelly, St. Joseph's Academy silk embroidery, Emmitsburg, Maryland, 1826, (continued) In 1810 their first school building, St. Joseph's House, was completed. Outstanding depictions of this building were worked in embroidery and watercolor on silk during the 1820s, forming a group that is widely considered to be amongst the finest American silk embroideries. The school flourished, attracting girls from great distances. Elinor Theresa Kelly was from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Fitzsimmons) Kelly, and attended the Academy in 1826 when she worked this highly accomplished and important silk embroidery. Published as figure 577 in Girlhood Embroidery, vol. II. Miss Kelly's work is extraordinarily fine with great detail. The front door of St. Joseph's House is open at the approach of the two-horse carriage. The many shuttered windows are detailed with minute mullions, hundreds of painted bricks form the smaller house, and the tiny village of Emmitsburg with its church spire is nestled into the composition at the far left. A handwritten paper label on the reverse identifies the maker, and the date of 1826 appears stitched at the lower left corner. Closely related silk embroideries depicting St. Joseph's House are in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum at Colonial Williamsburg and in the collection of St. Joseph's Archives. A similar example was in the Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little Collection and is published in Little by Little by Nina Fletcher Little, figure 215. The embroidery was worked in silk, chenille and watercolor on linen and is in excellent condition. It is in its original gold leaf frame with a later eglomise mat. Provenance: John Walton Joan Stephens Collection Private Collection
Size of the embroidery: 16" x 22W'
Framed size: 26W' x 32 114''
M. Finkel ~ Daughter. A..\lERic.-\¡
Price upon request.
LEAD rN a sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
1ary Almira Tingley, Providence, Rhode Island, 1829 Thi extraordi-
nary piece, umque m compo ition and execution within American samplers, was worked by Mary Almira Tingley in 1 29. The unu ual diar.:lond-shaped ITame\\'Ork lo ,. for fully - .eloped corer di plays hich the samlermaker used ~ itiU k «4 wlll•IIU'I "U"J .. .v'Ty W'Hd.,mll ~t#• the .soi~ o great advan.&1\d llli-...l ... w t.Aow co'ry ytiiY'I S.~ ~ rqay :1t111r tot 011,.-r..c. U. ..--. d~ •• you, It h,._ ml•t..- n.>tWI•tt treu, tage featuring Civc *• tk cultun ...,....,..,. <As ~ry mon.list ""'"s, ) - .);: large, beautifulP"r>~W •U tho .ttY~tCW"<' of. your vin~. 'l'•en sbl l>Urplt <Rrtns sV... !. haded blos'!'lie'"~' "'"~w-r ~ trmf'd lit'• soms, buds and lkm>4s IIi.- s~IV.t>ry knll'o, For ov'"ty hll<1ll'iut .-..tt leaves. The rds tt.t ..b$o..l•, •r ,..,UVt& tlllt frtlit. al habets, numr- three-stanza poem and :lSCription are centered within the eyelettitched diamond border; and the overall effect is pleasingly balanced. If the samplermaker had not indicated her difficulty fitting in the last two letters of the large alphabet, one could lose sight of the fact the she was young and still in school! ~
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Mary Almira Tingley was in fact only eight years old when she made her sampler. The daughter of Sylvanus and Roxana (Ellis) Tingley, she was born in 1821, according to The Tingley Family Being a Record of the Descendants of Samuel Tingley of Malden, Mass., by R. M. Tingley, published in 1910. Her father was a well-regarded sculptor and stone-cutter whose marble business was established in Providence in 1811, and he was acknowledged as the first to apply steam power for the cutting of marble in the United States. Included in the file of information about this family are copies of Tingley marble advertisements from 1812, 1815 and 1820. Mary Almira did not marry and lived with family members in Providence until she died in 1857. The poem worked on this sampler is entitled "Mental Discipline," and is one not commonly found on samplers; it exhorts the tending and pruning of gardens to produce the finest results and makes the obvious comparison to the attention needed to nurture the human mind and intellect. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a fine mahogany frame with a gold leaf outer bead. Sampler size: 18" x 17W'
Price: $18,000.
AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
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Jane Hughes, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1804
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Westtown School was founded in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1799, and within a few years other area Quaker schools were producing samplers modeled on the Westtown designs. A clean oval border, alphabets, numbers, verse and inscription, all in classic Quaker lettering, as well as the bell-flower drop at the top of the oval are characteristics of the school. Young woman who had attended Westtown were hired by various Monthly Meetings to teach their schoolgirls; indeed the initials "AC" that appear on the top of this sampler are likely to be those of Jane's teacher. Jane Hughes was a Quaker and member of Exeter Monthly Meeting in Berks County, near Reading, and it is likely that she attended school run by the Meeting. As noted on her sampler she was the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Hughes, whose 1788 marriage was recorded by the Exeter Meeting. Jane was born in 1794 and the family removed later to Philadelphia. In 1817 Jane married James Hutchinson at the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting and she died in 1839 in Philadelphia. This sampler was worked in silk on fine linen and is in excellent condition with minor weakness to the linen. It has been conservation mounted into a 19th century mahogany frame. Sampler size: llW' x 15"
1234
Price: $5800.
. detail
M. Finkel ~ Daughter. A..\tERicx
LEAD rNa sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Anna H. Brown, Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana, 1844 amplers made west of Oh io are exceedingly rare. Documented Indiana samplers such as this one become available ·ery infrequently and often tell the story of the westward movement of American families . he maker of this important Indiana sampler was Anna Hawkins Brown, who \"as born in 1818 in Richmond, Indiana and whose ancestors \·ere fro m South Carolina, North arolina, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania and . ·e ,. York. Anna was the daughter of Quakers, Eli and Martha (Hawkins) Brown, whose 1817 marriage was recorded at the Whitewater Monthly Meeting, which was established in 1807 in Richmond, Indiana. An 1899 publication, Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana contains a full descri ption of Eli Brown, a native of Guilford County, North Carolina. In 1813 Eli removed to Richmond, Indiana where he pursued many business concerns and became a wealthy man. He was the firs t city treasurer of Richmond and an early member of the orthodox Friends church. Anna may have been teaching school when she made this sampler, as she was 26 years old. One year later she married Elihu Morrow, a retail grocer also of Richmond and they became the parents of four children, Albert, Eliza, John and James. The 1880 census indicates that Anna and Elihu were till living in Richmond with two of their adult children. The sampler features a central scene of two buildings on a lawn with trees above the inscription. A lush and well-shaped border of flowers and buds on a leafy vine frames the sampler nicely and even tightly worked Quaker motifs decorate the corners and upper area. Interesting to note is the abbreviation for Indiana which appears as "lA" as this was the accepted usage until Iowa became a state in 1846. A narrow outer border finishes the edges of the sampler. \ orked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a cherry and maple cornerblock frame. Sampler size: 17W' square
Price: $18,000.
AMERicA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel~ Daughter.
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Caroline Darling, Marlborough, Massachusetts, 1 19 One of the most appealing regional characteristics of ~lassachusetts
samplers is the use of long stitches of crinkled silk used to embellish their wide borders. From the 18th century forth, teachers provided their students with this particular skill, and those samplers have benefited accordingly. Caroline Darling of Marlborough was eleven years old in 1819 when she worked this splendid sampler with its excellent wide framework of flower blossoms on leafy vines combined with two lovely baskets. Caroline's use of long, crinkled silk stitches to work the blossoms and leaves, as well as filling in the entire background of the border, provides a most attractive and lustrous quality. Alphabets worked in cross and eyelet stitches surmount the inscription, which is nicely contained by embroidered grape bunches on ten drilled vines. A small note of whimsey appears in the form of the little bowls of leafy branches, which fill the space at the end of each alphabet. Born in 1808, Caroline was the youngest child of Daniel and Rebecca (Arnold) Darling. She married a farmer, Nathan Conant Haynes in 1836 and they settled in nearby Sudbury where they became the parents of one child, a daughter named Emma. The 1870 census indicates that the family remained in Sudbury. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a beveled cherry frame. Sampler size: 17" x 13 1/4''
Price: 17.000.
M.Finkel as Daughter. A.\IERICA'
LEADINGSAM PLERANDNEEDLEWORKDEALER
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South German sampler, MDG, circa 1740 The luseum of Fine Arts, Boston has within its collection- an ~xquisite sampler worked in Southern Germany and dated 1737. In Samplers from A to Z, curator Pamela A. Parma! publi hed â&#x20AC;˘ i example on page 38 and states, "Continental Eu ropean samplers such as this German example usually included the alphabet and numbers, but more emphasis was placed on needlewo rk skills than in contemporary British or American examples, which offered a narrower range of patterns and -titches." We are extremely pleased to have discovered another sampler made under the instruction of the same teacher and -haring the highly sophisticated techniques and excellent design :hat are showcased on the museum's sampler.
detail
Each samplermaker worked her initials inside a wreath of fine polychrome blossoms on leafy vines. quare blocks are worked with various canvaswork stitches including florentine, rococo and tent; and j)e black outlines of the blocks enhance each design. The second alphabet that appears on our sampler is of an interesting font, one not frequently found. A narrow stitched border is then urrounded by the original green silk ribbon. \\"orked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition, and has been conservation mounted Sampler size: 12" x lOW' Price: $8500. into a black paint and gold leaf frame.
AMERICA'S LEADING SAMPLER AND N EEDLEWORK DEALER
M. Finkel as Daughter.
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Mary E. Smith, Baltimore, Maryland, 1841
Maryland samplers have been the subject of recent study by scholars and the result is a highly important, comprehensive exhibition currently at the Maryland Historical Society, "Maryland Schoolgirl Samplers & Embroideries, 1738-1860: Reflections of Regional, Religious and Racial Diversity." Guest curator, Dr. Gloria Seaman Allen is the author of a book entitled A Maryland Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery, 1738 - 1860, due for publication thi spring. With the help of Dr. Allen, a new and very interesting group of samplers, made in Baltimore in the late 1830s and early 1840s has been identified and we offer this significant example, a stunning sampler made by Mary E. Smith in 1841. The salient fea ure of this group is the remarkable composition: a large, double-chimney house sits on a lawn di 1 ed by diagonal paths. Halves of small outbuildings appear at the lower corners, and ducks and li e o - provide animation. Three samplers are now known, each with these unusual and han o e aracteristics. All were made by Baltimore schoolgirls and we hope that further research will i hool and teacher. Mary Smith is likely the girl by the arne the same church, Zion German Lutheran the makers of another sampler from thiThe sampler is worked in silk on linen an replacement to the lower right corner. 1¡ mahogany frame. Sampler size: 16" square
Price:
- born in Baltimore in 1828 and christened at r
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condition, with a small area of loss and -.:r-ation mounted into a mahogany beveled
Relief Shumway, Hardwick, Massachusetts, 1822 : samplers with strong folk appeal were made in the provin ial areas of Massachusetts in the first ecades of the 19th century. Relief Shumway, age 10 in 1 22, was living in Hardwick, a small 22 miles northwest of Worcester, where she worked thi delightful sampler with its strong scene ou e and barn with blue and black birds in flight. A graphic border formed of touching dia- - urrounds the sampler and appears as a horizontal band below the alphabets.
e humway family was of French heritage and descended from Pierre Chamois (1635-1695), who - from Deux-Sevres, emigrated to Essex County, Massachusetts and anglisized his name to Peter mway. Many generations later, Relief was born in 1812, the daughter of Perez and Sarah (Rogers ·:· ht) humway. Records indicate that the family had strong ties to Hardwick as well as to P ·er ham, a town just five miles away. Perez Shumway was likely the blacksmith whose account i in the collection of the Old Sturbridge Village Library. In 1839 Relief married a farmer, Joseph • I n Gould, and they became the parents of four children. At some point they removed to Barnet, · nnont where they were recorded by the 1880 census. lief had some difficulty with her spelling, as well as fitting all of her words into the allotted space. r two line verse is meant to read, "Beware what earth calls happiness I Beware all joys but joys that ·er will expire," and the inscription reads, "Wrought by Relief Shumway Hardwick July 20 1822 <5ed 10." The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition, having been conserva-ion mounted into a black painted frame with pressed brass rosette on the cornerblocks. ::>ampler size: 15W' x 16W'
Price: $12,500.
AMERicA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel e» Daughter.
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Scottish schoolgirls of the 18th and early 19th centuries frequently worked outstanding pictorial samplers which are notable for their aesthetic appeal and excellent needlework. Highly sought after by collectors, these samplers display characteristic assorted images as well as large scale scenes of manor houses, all of which can be whimsical or serious in nature. We are pleased to offer these two splendid examples.
Margret Rodger, Scotland, 1805 A strongly horizontal sampler with excellent vignettes and motifs, this was worked by Margret Rodger in 1805. The large band that sweeps across the top of the sampler is a design that had been worked precisely this way onto samplers for centuries. Deer and little dogs intersperse with classic Scottish trees on a low hill and lawn, forming the bottom border. The many potted plants, flowers and small animals are also typical of those found on Scottish samplers. Interesting to note are inclusion of the Spies of Canaan and the little scene of the table and chairs, as these are actually more representative of Dutch samplers than those from the British Isles.
detail
Worked in silk on wool, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into its original black molded frame. Sampler size: 13" x 26"
Price: $5250.
Hectorina McKenzie, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1794
A large group of Scottish samplers depict as their central image this specific fine stone house and chenille lawn scene with excellent perspective and well-developed fences. These are considered the most desirable of Scottish samplers and Hectorina McKenzie worked this fine example at age 9 in 1794, including the name of her town in the inscription. A strikingly similar sampler, worked in 1792 in Linlithgow, is in the collection of the National Museums of Scotland. Hectorina had clearly achieved a high level of needlework skill at this young age, demonstrating this with the wide vocabulary of carefully worked stitches on her sampler. The chenille is couched, little queen's-stitched strawberries provide decoration alongside the house, and fine little curlicues, a typically Scottish device, embellish the border. Worked in silk and chenille on wool, the sampler is in excellent condition with very minor weakness to the wool. It has been conservation mounted into a 19th century Hogarth style frame. Sampler size: 11 W' x 14"
Price: $7850.
AMERicA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
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Mary Ann West, Mercer County, New Jersey, 1828 This is a very interesting little sampler made by 11 year old Mary Ann West in memory of her father, Zemri West. The family lived in Hamilton Township, Mercer County and is well documented in early published histories of the area. Zemri's grandfather was Bartholomew West (1697-1770), one of the early settlers of the area; his son was William West, father of Zemri. A story is told that William was captured by the British in the Revolutionary War and caught smallpox while amongst them. Zemri married Mary Hammell in 1814 and Mary Ann was the second of their six children. Her sampler provides details of her father and his death, but features none of the classic mourning symbols or devices of the period. Instead, baskets of fruit and little trees are arranged in a pleasing composition with a small pair of birds whose slanted backs fit conveniently into the area at the base of the center basket. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler has been conservation mounted and is in excellent condition in Price: $4200. its original mahogany frame. Sampler size: 8!fz'' x 6!fz''
Miniature Silk Embroidery, Mary and Her Lamb, England, circa 1800 While many miniature samplers were made, the same cannot be said about silk embroideries. This charming and nicely worked example depicts Mary and Her Lamb and is so labeled on the reverse of the frame with a period paper label. Mary and her wooly little lamb play under a tree nearby her cottage; with the exception of the lamb, the work was accomplished in fine silk stitches. Delicate watercolor, applied with a practiced hand, was used to paint the face. It is in excellent condition and in its original solid mahogany frame. Sight size: 3W' x 43!4'' Price: $3800.
Framed size: 5¡ .. x 6'/-"
Hannah E. Moore, Easton School Burlington County, ~ "ew Jersey, 1822
_e Quaker samplers of Burlington County, New Jersey, are widely considered to be the most rai e\ orthy of all groups of American samplers. Spectacular samplers were worked in Quaker .:~hools
under the tutelag of talented instructresses in towns, such as Evesham, Moorestown, Mount Holly, and Pine Grove; and are discussed by Betty Ring in Girlhood Embroidery, vol. II, pages 476 to .... 5. These samplers include fully developed renditions of buildings on graceful lawns with fences and ths, populated with animals and large swans, and trees of various types. Their Quaker origins are · rther evident in the leafy vine forming the surround of the verse and the many motifs that further mbellish the samplers. One of the schools identified by Mrs. Ring is the Easton School, and two samplers naming this school are illustrated as figures 538 and 539. It is our privilege to offer this extraordinary new discovery, a sampler which was worked at the Easton School and which confirms · at samplers worked at this school compare favorably with the best of all Burlington County examples.
AMERicA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel e» Daughter.
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Hannah E. Moore, Easton School, Burlington County, New Jersey, 1822, (continued) Hannah E. Moore was 12 years old in 1822 when she attended the Easton School and worked this sampler. She was born on April 9, 1810, the daughter of Stacy and Drucilla (Tomlin) Moore of . Evesham, and their initials appear on the sampler along with those of her siblings, Stacy and Joshua R. Moore. In 1829 Hannah attended the Westtown School in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the preeminent Quaker school in the county at that time. In 1833 she married a farmer, Arthur Haines. They remained in the area where their three children were born and where Hannah died in 1865. This sampler was part of an important early collection, that of Alexander Wilson Drake (1843-1916), whose collection was written about and widely exhibited (including a 1908 exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC) and then sold at auction in 1913. In 1921, American Samplers by Bolton and Coe published information about Hannah's sampler as did Betty Ring on page 483 of Girlhood Embroidery, vol. II. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and remains in its original mahogany frame. Sampler size: 26" square
Price: $38,000.
CCHF, Pictorial Motif sampler, Hamburg, Germany, 1823 German samplers can present a wonderful assortment of pictorial motifs that had been used by needleworkers in northern Europe for many centuries. The subjects of these little vignettes are frequently religious or symbolic, but depictions of the everyday were used as well. This praiseworthy sampler is filled with motifs from all categories, presenting some that are actually found only rarely. These include the pair of figures, Hope and Justice, in the upper corners, New Jerusalem (buildings on the little hills) in the lower right corner Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (right side center), Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (to the upper right of Adam & Eve), and the two figures on globes, representing the Ascension and the Resurrection. Also included on this sampler are the common motifs of a house, church, ship, ladies at the well. re samplermaker identified her city by ti chi castle.
e 6 -
Generally the makers of northern Euro e frequently appear inside a wreath up is in excellent condition and has been o Sampler size: 16" square
Price: _JS
~ eer and Adam & Eve. Quite interestingly, the e oa of arms of Hamburg, a pair of lions flanking a
er¡ identified themselves with their initials which ing angles. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler ounted into black molded and painted frame.
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ilk Embroidery of "Swords into Ploughshares," ~ -e, England, circa 1800
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- del icate and beautifully made silk embroidery depicts the Old Testament story from the book of :. 1ah, giving illustration to the biblical admonition, "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, heir spears into rakes and shovels; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall â&#x20AC;˘ e_: learn war any more." This theme, not commonly found on silk embroideries, is embodied in the . . onfident and resolute young woman holding a laurel branch and shovel, while a broken sword, rifle, annons and cannon balls litter the ground. A farmer and oxen plow fields in the background and a ¡ le dove sits in the foreground. The needlework and paint are remarkably well done with excellent details, such as the scalloped rder edging the oval and the shimmering leafy tree. Worked in silk, chenille and paint on silk, it is in excellent condition and is in a gold leaf frame with an eglomise glass mat. ize of embroidery: 11 IN' x 9314'' Framed size: 16W' x 143!4'' AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Price: $7800.
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
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Tacy Jane Hixson, Loudon Count). 1rginia, 1833 Born in 1820, Tacy Jane Hixson was the ninth of thirteen hi! ren of Benjamin and Tacy (Humphrey) of Loudon County, Virginia, northwest of Washington DC. The Hixson family had lived in New Jersey for many generations, originating at the end of the 17th century with William Hixson who settled in Hunterdon County. Benjamin and Tacy were married in Loudon County in 1809 and the family remained in the area. Tacy's marriage to Martin Cant, a farmer, in 1843 is also recorded in the Loudon County records and they lived in Berryville, in nearby Clarke County with their three children. Virginia samplers have been the subject of much study and exist in far fewer numbers than their northern counterparts. Kim Smith Ivey, curator at Colonial Williamsburg, wrote an excellent book, In the Neatest Manner: The Making of the Virginia Sampler Tradition, which documents many groups and types of Virginia samplers. In 1833, Tacy stitched this simple but effective sampler with alphabets, a cautionary four-line verse that warns against "idle hands" and a fine satin-stitched spray of flowers. Worked in silk on linen, it is in excellent condition with one minor area of weakness to the linen. It has been conservation mounted into a black molded and painted frame.
Sampler size: 171fz'' x 9W'
Price: $4850.
_ ary Jones, Abington, Montgomel) Co ..
Penns~ h ania,
1799
·c are pleased to .::er this excellent ly sampler made . ·. lary Jones, a ·en year old from a er family r 1ng in the ro perous town of . ington, just rth of P iladelphia. The ~pier descended :ith a handwritten •e on its paper king, which dicates that it ·made by the .:2 ghter of John nd Priscilla Jones. ·earch led to uch information 11arding this family, which was tive in the aker community i and around Philadelphia in the th century. John Jones married Pri cilia Hallowell a-- the Abington . lonthly Meeting in 1776, and their marriage certificate \·as witnessed by ozens of members o · the Quaker ommunity. Priscilla Hallowell was a descendant of John Hallowell, who, according to the published hi tory of Montgomery County, came from Nottinghamshire, England in 1682 with William Penn and a group of English Quakers. Four generations later, Mary was born in 1786, one of ten children. Mary died, unmarried at age forty, a member of the Frankford Meeting. The sampler is very interesting and appealing on many levels. Traditional Philadelphia sampler motifs and design are apparent throughout; however, it is the naive scene of the detailed house and animals \'ith many trees and birds that accounts for its more unusual nature. Off to the right is a well pump and small pink outbuilding above which appears a tall column of family initials which correspond directly to Mary's parents and siblings. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition; it has been conservation mounted into its excellent original red-brown painted frame in original finish. ampler size: 17" x 20"
Price: $12,000.
AMERicA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. .t'inket <:» Daughter.
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Basket of Strawberries, England circa 1850 While the making of samplers cased to be an important part of a girl's education by the 1840s, needleworkers continued to stitch throughout the 19th century and created some wonderfully whimsical appliqued and embroidered pictures. In this case, a tall basket stuffed with fat strawberries was worked onto a black wool ground with dramatic effect. The berries are worked in three dimensions and the shading on the woven basket implies further depth. Details include the green felt leaves with their embroidered veins and blue tufts that come from behind the berries. Worked in silk and wool on wool, it is in excellent condition and in a fine 18th century shadowbox frame. Sight size: 9W' x 7W'
Price: $4800.
Headwork from Turkish Prisoners of War, 1916 During World War I, Turkish prisoners were incarcerated in British camps in Egypt, India and Mesopotamia. Working within their established folk traditions and with glass beads provided by the British, some of these prisoners made headwork objects that were then traded to guards or soldiers or sold in local shops. A 1917 International Red Cross report indicated that the prisoners were making "articles of colored beads handbags, purses, necklaces, bracelets, etc. - which show considerable artistic taste." This grouping of six pieces of Turkish Prisoner headwork, four necklaces and two bracelets, closely resemble other examples, some that are published and some that we know to be in private collections. These were likely made for one British fellow named Tom who had them made for his sisters, Alice, Rose and Lily, and it is fortunate that they remain together. The necklaces are approximately 12 inches long and the bracelets are 8 inches long. They have been mounted together into a late 19th century faux finish frame. Framed size: 14W' x 16 1/ / '
Price: 1600.
Kandy School Missionary Sampler.
eylon, 1884
. lissionaries from England and the ¡nited States maintained a strong resence in Ceylon now Sri Lanka) throughout the 19th entury, establishing mi sions and schools o introduce the Hindu . opulation to their religion, language and ul ture. The fascinating samplers made by the young <Sirls at these schools ex.i t, but are quite rare and we offer this e."ample, a recent di covery and addition o the known body of ¡ork. These samplers can present alphabets in English and Tamil language, and their makers used their aptized, given English names. The town of Kandy is in central Ceylon, and the British developed it as an important part of their colonial and missionary efforts. The Kandy School is mentioned in the late 19th century publication, The History of the Church Missionary Society, which documents that 3200 schoolchildren were under the auspices of the Ceylon Mission by the late 1860s. An Irish lergyman, Rev. J. G. Garrett was principal of the Kandy School in 1884 when this sampler was made. It is signed, "Kandy School. This samplar was made by Jane. 1884." A period note that accompanies the sampler indicate that it was, "worked by a Tamil girl in the Tamil Coaly Mission School Kandy." It is, of course, not surprising that religious quotations would appear on samplers; and the quotation from Proverbs, chapter 20 verse 11, "Even a child is known by its doing," is most appropriate in the given setting. Worked in wool on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a beveled cherry frame. Sampler size: 21 114'' x 18314''
AMERicA's LEADING s AMPLER AND :"JEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Price: $6800.
M. Finkel Oj Daughter.
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We present the exceptional opportunity to acqu ire sarnp er- made by a mother and daughter, both of Pepperell, Massachusetts, a small town at the northern border of the state, northwest of Lowell. Harriot Parker and her daughter, Carol ine Le\\ ¡-,each must have been taught by a teacher of considerable aptitude, as their samplers indicate; and each was working within the style of her specific period. Harriot's sampler shows clear influence of the 18th century and Caroline worked a family record sampler, which was very much in vogue in the 1820s in Massachusetts.
Harriot Parker, Pepperell, Massachusetts, 1808 At ten years of age, Harriot worked this very large sampler, an ambitious project well executed. Her parents were Samuel and Submit (Gilson) Parker who were married in 1791 in Pepperell, a town described in a contemporary gazetteer as "a very pleasant town with good soil and handsome orchards," and with a population, in 1797 of 1132 inhabitants. In 1819 Harriot married James Lewis, Jr., a lawyer, judge, and senator who was educated at Dartmouth College. They had four children between 1819 and 1830 and later removed to the coastal part of the state where Harriot died in Newburyport in 1875. In the 1920s her sampler was owned by her granddaughter, Harriot E. Freeman, and was published in Bolton & Coe's groundbreaking book, American Samplers. Harriot's sampler offers an excellent scene of a Federal house with a widow's walk, gazebo, trees, plants and many birds. The registers above and below the scene are fully worked and a strong sawtooth inner border adds to the composition. The naturalistic outer border provides an outstanding framework that further showcases Harriot's skill.
M. Finkel as Daughter. M1ERICA'S LEADING SAMPLER AND NEEDLEWORK DEALER
arriot Parker, Pepperell, Massachusetts, 1808, (continued) r-e is one which is more commonly found on sampler from ewburyport, and which reads, ~ t the Maid whom circling years improve I Her God the object of her warmest Jove I Whose I Hours successive as they glide I the book the needle and the pen divide." Worked in silk on ~ ampler is in excellent condition and has been con ervation mounted into a beveled maple 路ith a black outer bead. Sampler size: 24 114'' x 20 1N'
aroline Lewis, Pepperell, Massachusetts, 1827 i~e Crosby Lewis was born on Christmas Day in 1819, the eldest child of Harriot (Parker) 路 nd her husband James Lewis, Jr., Esq. She states on her sampler that she was "aged 7," an 1. young age for this sophisticated a work. Samplers were a perfect format for genealogical .---,........,,-ion and became very popular in the early 19th century, often combining such information abets and other traditional sampler designs. The border of this sampler is formed by two "'-~路,,...<1 路ines that emanate from a pair of striped cornucopias. A sawtooth border, echoing that .. other's sampler, frames the sampler well.
. aroline married William F. Freeman, a merchant, and by 1850 they were living in :!1. near Boston, with two children. She died in Boston at age 60. The sampler was ilk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a fine !ld molded period frame. -ize: 16 1/2' square
tERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND
Price for the two samplers: $22,500.
EEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
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Silk embroidery, France, circa 1810
An unusual and stylish naivete characterizes this large embroidered picture, which features a wonderfully whimsical country scene. It is accomplished in silk and chenille needlework and the heads of the four gentlefolk are engravings on paper. The house itself is quite charming, set next to a verdant little hill and a silvery stream with ducks and a fish. The architecture and construction of the house is delineated in excellent detail, as is that of the little footbridge. An elderly lady sits inside at the window and a young lady with hat and little reticule bag sets out from the doorway. The outdoors setting is equally charming with a man and woman tending to flocks of chickens and sheep.
The large oak tree was worked in three dimensions with padding underneath the chenille needlework that forms the trunk; the same technique applies to the birds in the tree. All of the animals and birds have little black glass beads for their eyes. The reticule was worked separately and stitched to the dress, and the young lady's belt is decorated with a metallic embellishment. This piece remains in its fine original gold leaf frame, which retains its framer's label printed in French. It is in excellent condition with three very minor areas of wear to the silk background. Sight size: 2Ph' x 24if4''
Price: $11,000.
M. Finkel Oj Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Elizabeth H. Beale, Chester County. Penns lvania, 1832 Large, lavishly worked samplers exhibiting superb ~~dlework were made at ··erent schools in Chester ounty, Pennsylvania, : uthwest of Philadelphia. · tradition of excellence, fact, began in the early century in Philadelphia, en teachers from England - ed their talents on to ~ young ladies. This :radition continued for a - n ury and by the 1820s rough 1830s resulted in ·nr group of impressive ter County samplers . . lany of these samplers ~ '"ure lawns opulently rked with plants and imals, with extravagant rders of large blossoms on ~deri ng leafy vines. One : · oolteacher who is ~ ited with this type of - ·truction was Mary Morris therford who was active e early 1830s and who - responsible for teaching Iizabeth Beale, the maker of this praiseworthy sampler. T:.1e verse on the sampler is a classic one which appears, in variations, on many examples of early 19th -~ntu ry needlework, and which reads, "This work in hand my friends I trust I When I am mouldering ·n the dust I Will cause you all to meditate I And think upon a future state I To study ever when you see How soon you all must follow me." 1· i igned, "Elizabeth H. Beale's work 1832 I Mary Morris Rutherford teacher," and Elizabeth lists the :1a1Tles of her parents, William and Elizabeth Beale. The sampler was likely made in Willistown, East v<> hen Township, where William and Elizabeth (Osborne) lived with their daughters Lydia Ann and Elizabeth. A strikingly similar and equally proficient sampler was made by Lydia Ann Beale the same year and at the same school. Their teacher, Mary Morris Rutherford, may have been a widow who moved from Philadelphia where the Morris family was one of the most prominent in the city. Worked in silk on linen, Miss Beale's sampler is in excellent condition. It is conservation mounted into a mahogany cornerblock frame. Sampler size: 24W' x 22" AMERicA's LEADIN G sAMPLER AND :\IEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Price: $38,000.
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
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Ann Williams, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1827 Pictorial samplers made by Quaker schoolgirls living in Y1ontgomery County, just north of Philadelphia, share a common and appealing aesthetic. This fine sampler, made in 1827 by ten year old Ann Williams, presents these characteristics executed with great skill. The graceful willow tree, little gazebos and potted plants sit on a lush lawn formed of the chain stitch and the initials of Ann's parents and siblings appear in Quaker block lettering in precise placement on her sampler. The four lines of verse are contained by a stylized cartouche and the sampler is bordered by a carefully designed vine of flowers and berries with a bell-flower as its center motif. Ann Williams was the daughter of Joseph Williams and his wife, Ann Hallowell Williams. The Williams family in America originated with John Williams (1670 - 1740). On her maternal side, Ann was the descendant of John Hallowell (1648- 1708), a Quaker who emigrated to Philadelphia and bought land from William Penn. The families were active in the Abington and Gwynedd Monthly Meetings. Ann was born in 1817, the last of six children and she died in 1834 as a young woman. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in its fine original mahogany veneer frame. Sampler size: 16 1N' x 17"
Price: $7600.
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Sarah Ann Ward, England, 1815 -:-his is an endearing little sampler made in 1815 and featuring a verse written by famed English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744). It seems that many : hoolgirls, both English and American, must have earned this verse, which appears with minor varia-wns on numerous samplers of the period. Baskets, : 1e trees and plants, and diamond motifs provide .:mbellishments, along with tightly worked horizontal bands that separate the lines of alphabets and inscription . . :orked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent ondition and has been conservation mounted into a 19th century black frame with a gold liner. Price: $2450.
Sarah E. Walker, New England, 1830 Signed, "Sarah E. Walker's Samplear Wrot in the year 1830," this is a handsome sampler that also memorializes a family member, Margaret Walker. The house is flanked by oversized birds on spindly trees and sits on a stepped lawn with other motifs nearby. Sarah's proficiency is indicated by the use of the queen's-stitch, a technique that requires a great deal of time and thread, which was used to work the rich blue zigzag band with fat strawberries, a pair of geometric stars and two other trios of berries. It is interesting to note that the alphabets used are missing the letter "J." This was common prior to the end of the 18th century as "I" was used to designate both letters. The "J" was in widespread use in urban areas by 1800; however this was not the case in more provincial towns. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a black molded and painted frame. Sampler size: 16 112'' x 17lfz'' Price: $4800. AMERICA'S LEADING SAMPLER AND NEEDLEWORK DEALER
M. Finkel as Daughter.
26 Caroline Noble, Chelsea, Orange County, Vermont, 1834 Fewer schoolgirls samplers were made in Vermont than in the other New England states and well documented examples are considered rare. This is a handsome sampler worked in the small town of Chelsea which was established in 1785 in central Vermont, 20 miles southeast of Montpelier. The population in 1839 was 1958 people and about 6000 sheep. From 1807 until his death in April, 1834, Rev. Calvin Noble was pastor of the Congregational Church of Chelsea. Educated at Middlebury College, Rev. Noble was born in Kent, Litchfield County, Connecticut and married Sophia Thompson in 1807. In 1822 their daughter Caroline was born, the namesake of a daughter who was born in 1820 and died at two years of age. The Noble family in America began with Thomas Noble (16321704), an Englishman who emigrated to America in the middle of the 17th century. Caroline worked this sampler when she was twelve years old and died just four years later in 1838. A very good border of eyelet-stitched flowers and leaves on vine surrounds the sampler on three sides and a pair of crossed leafy branches with full blossoms and buds provides excellent embellishment. The six-line verse exhorts us to "live each hour as though it were our last." Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition, and it has been conservation mounted into a 19th century rosewood veneer frame. Sampler size: 16'14'' x 17'14''
Price: $4850.
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M. Finkel ~ Daughter. A..\lERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
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Geffroy Family Print-Work Silk Em roid Mary Balch School, Providence, R.I..
l
Amongst the excellent silk embroideries worked at the B n·e Rhode Island is a _ group of print-work memorials, worked between 1 10 an · re elaborate monuments without figures and were all accomplished, according to Be : W £=· - . ·n in Bett} Ring's Let Virtue eed stitches which create the effect of an engraving.·· Exam I .: ar ~ : Be a Guide to Thee and her Balch School article in The Jfa -i iques. April 1975. A similar example was in the collection of Edgar William and Berni e ~ -ler Gar i ch. This important silk embroidery, a newly discovered example from thi group, ' as worked in memory of the first wife and infant children of Newport watchmaker and il\'er mith, icholas Geffroy (17641 39). The inscription read "In Memory of Sally Geffroy wife of. 'icolas Geffroy who died Sept 12 1 05 age 29," "John Geffroy died August 4 1797 age 3 month and six days,' and "Julia Geffroy died ept 17 1801 aged 4 days." It is attributed to their daughter, Adeline Geffroy (1803-1819) who would have attended the Balch chool in Providence as a boarding student. In fact, Adeline's death in 1819 at age 16 was recorded in Providence and may have occurred when she was still a student. Nicholas Geffroy was born in Grenville, France and was married in Newport in 1795 to Sally Shaw (1776-1805). The book, American Silversmiths and their Marks, by Robert Ensko, states that Mr. Geffroy was working in _ ewport as early as the year he married, 1795. An 1800 advertisement in The Newport Mercury indicated the scope of his business as a watchmaker and merchant as well. The silk embroidery is in very good condition with slight weakness to the silk background. It is in its original fine gold leaf frame with a later eglomise glass mat. ight size: 11 W' x 20"
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Overall framed size: 21" x 30"
Price: $18,000.
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AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
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M. Finkel e; Daughter.
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Pair of Miniature Samplers, Elizabeth Coleman, London, England, circa 1805
A fine pair of miniature samplers in oval format was worked to commemorate the marriage of George Coleman and Elizabeth Bamford in 1786, and the birth of their daughter, Elizabeth Coleman in 1792. Tight stitches form the inscriptions and the borders, which are comprised of stylized little flowers and leaves. A tiny pair of birds provides decoration beneath each inscription. Records indicate that the marriage of George and Elizabeth, as well as the christening of their daughter, took place in London. It was most likely the younger Elizabeth who stitched this pair of samplers as a schoolgirl, circa 1805. Worked in silk on wool, they are in excellent condition and each has been framed in a mid 19th century miniature portrait frame of dark cherry with a brass liner. Sampler size, each: 3" x 3W' Framed: 5W' x 6W'
Price for the pair: $2800.
Ann Wright, England, 1840 English samplers offer fine and tight needlework with beautifully executed motifs and lettering in a balanced format. Ann Wright's sampler, completed June 2 1840, is a classic example, which features an unusual and detailed rendition of a church with a clock tower. The lengthy inscription is verse taken from the Old Testament, Psalms, and speaks of the Lord's love of Zion. The sampler was worked in silk on wool and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a black molded and painted frame. Sampler size: 16W' x 12 3/4''
Price: $3850.
M. Finkel aJ Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Mary Harr, C. Jon's school, Hummel '"'t
1833
"Ma.~y lllur
d..a:JJ.thttr of w~rtin nd warY !arr w.a:s ~orn fH=:tt rbt:r2 \8\' Worktd at liloJÂŤmds tov..r:n e Jont in stru~ tor \833
+¡ Hummelstown is located in Dauphin County, nine miles east of Harrisburg, and according to an 1832 Gazetteer, contained about 150 dwellings, a population of wealthy and industrious Pennsylvania Germans, 4 stores and 5 taverns. A small school that taught samplermaking to girls existed there as well, for at least one year, and there are two excellent, very similar samplers that remain as tangible evidence of this school. Mary Harr inscribed the name of her teacher as C. Jons and the other known samplermaker, Fanny Keever, named the same teacher as C. Jontz. Both girls struggled with the anglicized version of the name as well as the spelling of "instructor." The samplers each feature a tightly worked house and willow tree scene which required unusual skill and discipline, and which shows the impact of the Pennsylvania samplers made by girls of English heritage. The overall composition and other motifs, however, indicate influence of Pennsylvania German design; the samplers made at this school are an interesting study of the integration of English and German decorative arts in early 19th century southeastern Pennsylvania. As Mary states on her sampler, she was born in 1815, the daughter of Martin and Mary Harr. Research thus far has not revealed further information, and it's possible that the Harr family also varied the spelling of their name. The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It is conservation mounted into a cornerblock frame of figured maple and cherry. Sampler size: 16314'' x 17W'
Price: $8600.
AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER A..'m :\EEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel e; Daughter.
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Martha Levering, Roxborough, Pennsylvania, 1828 The history of the Levering family has deep roots in the area just west of Philadelphia, along the Schuylkill River. Two Levering brothers and their familie emigrated from Germany in 1685, settling initially in Germantown and later removing to Roxborough. ~1artha Levering, the maker of this sampler was one of the ten children of Thomas Levering, a blacksmith, farmer and deacon of the Roxborough Baptist Church and his wife, Hannah Stott, of nearby Montgomery County. The family lived above the Leverington Hotel, which had been established in 1732 and remained in family hands until1858. Martha worked this decorative sampler at age 16 in 1828, filling the linen ground with baskets of flowers, trees, whimsical birds and little dogs. A morally instructive verse, typical of the period, was worked at the center of the sampler. In 1832 Martha married Richard Kelly, also of Roxborough and they immediately removed to Piqua, Ohio where their five children were born. Martha died in 1867. The sampler was worked in silk on linen; it is very good condition with some minor darkening of the linen. It has been conservation mounted into a beveled bird's-eye maple frame. Sampler size: 15W' x 18"
Price: $5200.
M. Finkel ~ Daughter. AMERICA's L EADIN G sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Lydia Kintzi, Pennsylvania German
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The decorative arts of the Pennsylvania Germans reveal their proclivity for strong color and design. Their painted furniture, decorated redware, watercolor fraktur and of course, their samplers all share wonderful polychrome palettes and a great love of bold composition. Lydia Kintzi made this excellent Pennsylvania German sampler, informing us in her inscription that she was "born on the 11 day of January in the year of our Lord 1837." The sampler features a balanced composition centered on a geometric star within a star within an eight-sided framework. Baskets of upright and pendulous flowers, polychrome deer, little birds, another pair of geometric stars and many other embellishments provide the decoration that makes this sampler classically Pennsylvania German. The straight lines of many of these elements contrast nicely with the sinuous lines of the pair of flowering plants at the lower comers. The Kintzi family probably anglicized its name to Kinsey and genealogical records have proven difficult to find; however, research continues into the identity of Lydia. Worked in wool on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition, and has been conservation mounted into a maple and mahogany comerblock frame. Sampler size: lSW' x 17W'
AMERICA'S LEADING SAMPLER
Price: $3800.
-...:o . "EEDLEWO RK DEALER
M. Finkel es Daughter.
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Maria Van Wyk, Darning Sampler, Holland, 1762 In Samplers from A to Z, Pamela A. Parma!, textile curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston writes the following regarding darning samplers: "Darning which involved interweaving new threads into the warp and weft of a cloth to patch holes and tears, was an important skill for a household embroiderer to acquire. This was especially true prior to the mid-nineteenth century, when advancements in spinning and weaving technology made textiles more affordable. Darning samplers first became popular in Northern Europe during the early eighteenth century, then spread to Great Britain and the United States. Darning samplers usually included several repairs. Squares were cut out of the ground material and each darned in a different weave structure. One of the signs of a good darn was maintaining a similar tension between inserted yarns and the original warp and weft so as not to create buckling or pulling."
We have been great enthusiasts of this genre for many years and offer one of the most interesting Dutch darning sampler to become available in qui e some time .â&#x20AC;˘ ¡ot onJ: ithis an outstanding visual and technical achievement but it is unusual in that it is accompanied by interesting family information. The sampler descended in its original family until quite recently and therefore, we know much about its creator. Maria Van Wyk was born in 1746 and was raised in a nunnery as an orphan in Nijkerk, Utretch province. She worked this sampler at age 16 and by age 22 was working with the family of Cornelis Niewendijk whom she later married. They had two children and the sampler descended for five generations.
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Featuring eight large darned squares and one large cut center square, the sampler also has a double edging of drawn work. A pair of heralding angels and finely worked crowns decorate the center. It was worked in silk onto very tight linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a gold leaf frame. Sampler size: 18W' square
Price: $8400.
M. Finkel & Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Mary Eastm
terbury, New Hampshire, 1804
1830s and were by girls from who settled alon<5 â&#x20AC;˘ e Merrimack Ri ¡er in southern _¡ew Hampshire. A 1990 exhibition at the Hood Museum of Dartmouth College focused solely on these samplers and the accompanying scholarship documented the importance of this group. Unusually, it is likely that the samplermakers attended public schools. The best of these samplers present wide borders and an elaborate scene along the bottom with lustrous depictions of birds, delicate flowers on meandering vines, decorated baskets, and distinctive evergreen trees. Many of the principal elements are outlined in black stitches, a device that lends a graphic quality to the samplers. We are pleased to offer this outstanding example, one of the best known from this group; the maker was Mary Eastman who was twelve years in 1804. The majority of these Canterbury samplers have borders on the sides only. Mary Eastman continued her excellent needlework across the top, adding greatly to the appeal of this sampler. The last of the ten children of Stephen and Anna (Colby) Eastman, Mary was born in 1791, in Bow, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. The family removed to Sutton, Vermont in 1806 and Mary later married Stephen Leach of Vermont. They became the parents of three children and moved out west. \\'orked in silk on tan linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a lack frame with a gold leaf liner. am
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.:ize: 20114'' x 16"
Price upon request.
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SELECTED NEEDLEWORK BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, Gloria Seaman. Family Record Genealogical Watercolors and Needlework. Washington, DC: DAR Museum, 1989. Arnolli, Gieneke and Rosalie Sloof. Letter voor Letter. Waanders Uitgevers, Zwolle, Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, 2004. Bolton, Ethel Stanwood and Coe, Eve Johnston. American Samplers. Boston: The Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1921. Brooke, Xanthe. Catalogue of Embroideries. The Lady Lever Art Gallery. Alan Sutton Publishing Inc., 1992 Edmonds, Mary Jaene. Samplers and Samplermakers, An American Schoolgirl Art 1700-1850. New York: Rizzoli, 1991. Herr, Patricia T. The Ornamental Branches, Needlework and Art from the Lititz Moravian Girls' School Between 1800 and 1865. The Heritage Center Museum of Lancaster County, Pa, 1996. Epstein, Kathy. British Embroidery: Curious Works from the Seventeenth Century. Colonial Williamsburg and Curious Works Press, 1998. Hersh, Tandy and Charles. Samplers of the Pennsylvania Germans. Birdsboro, PA: Pennsylvania German Society, 1991. Humphrey, Carol. Samplers, Fitzwilliam Museum Handbooks. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Quaker School Girl Samplers from Ackworth. Needleprint & Ackworth School Estates Limited, 2006. Ivey, Kimberly Smith. In the Neatest Manner: The Making of the Virginia Sampler Tradition. Colonial Williamsburg and Curious Works Press, 1997. Krueger, Glee F. A Gallery of American Samplers: The Theodore H. Kapnek Collection. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978. New England Samplers to 1840. Sturbridge, Massachusetts: Old Sturbridge Village, 1978. Ring, Betty. American Needlework Treasures.
New York: E.P. Dutton, 1987.
Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework, 1650-1850. Knopf, 1993. Let Virtue be a Guide to Thee: Needlework in the Education of Rhode Island Women, 1730-1820. Providence: The Rhode Island Historical Society, 1983. Schiffer, Margaret B. Historical Needlework of Pennsylvania. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968. Schorsch, Anita. Mourning Becomes America: Mourning Art in the New Nation. Clinton, New Jersey: The Main Street Press, 1976. Staples Epstein, Kathy and Tinley, Lynn. "Some Honest Worke in Hand ... " English Samplers from the Seventeenth Century. Greenville, South Carolina, 2001. This Have I Done: Samplers and Embroideries from Charleston and the Lowcountry. Curious Works Press and the Charleston Museum, 2002. Studebaker, Sue. Ohio Samplers, School Girl Embroideries 1803-1850. Warren County Historical Society, 1988. Ohio Is My Dwelling Place. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2002. Swan, Susan B. Plain and Fancy: American Women and Their Needlework, 1700-1850. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977.
M. Finkel eÂť Daughter. AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
Conser\' a ·on _ ounting of Antique Samplers and Needlework Because of the i strive to insure description of the remove the du
on i ion plays in the field of antique samplers and needlework, we o proper preservation while in our care. Below is a step-by-step •·ng" process. Our techniques are simple and straightforward; we e hanically, never wet-cleaning the textiles. We use only acid-free ique throughout the process. Please call us if you have any ques-
~er
0
Carefully
-·n our pecial vacuum process.
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Mount i
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Re-fit the i e . a · in o its original frame, or custom-make a reproduction of an 18th or early 19th cen ury frame u ing one of our exclusive patterns.
- o: n - ewing onto acid-free museum board that has been slip-cased with ·o ·he piece itself, and at the same time stabilize any holes or weak areas.
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upply a re\'er e painted black glass mat, if appropriate, done in correct antique manner.
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When necessary, install TruVue Conservation Clear glass which blocks 97% of the harmful ultraviolet light.
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In the framing process, the needlework is properly spaced away from the glass, the wooden frame is sealed, and the dust cover is attached with special archival tape.
detail of Print-Work Silk Embroidery, Balch School, Providence, Rhode Island, circa 1818, page 27
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LEADL'\IG sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER
M. Finkel ~ Daughter.
both details are from sampler by Hannah E. Moore, Burlington County, New Jersey, 1822, page 13
est. 1947
M. Finkel ~ Daughter. AMERICA'S LEADING ANTIQUE SAMPLER & NEEDLEWORK DEALER
936 Pine Street. Philadelphia . Pennsylvania. 19107-6128 215-627-7797.800-598-7432. fax 215-627-8199 www.samplings.com