Caroline Harris,

This splendid sampler offers a handsome composition accomplished in very fine needlework. We especially admire the striped cornucopias, filled with flowers and grape bunches, each ending up with a wonderful, tightly scrolled tip. A delicate leafy vine forms a three-sided framework for the verse and four little baskets of fruit anchor the inside corners of the sampler nicely. The border, resembling a pole that has been tightly wrapped with flower buds and paired leaves, is interesting as it was used by many New York City samplermakers and serves as an identifying characteristic of samplers made there. Overall, the needlework is extremely precise; the verse, from Proverbs 31, and the inscription are carefully placed and are letter-perfect in their execution. 

Wonderfully signed, “Caroline Harris Her Work done in Her eleventh Year New York Feby 4 1820,” the sampler descended within the family until just recently. It was passed down to a daughter named Caroline in each generation. Some genealogical information about the samplermaker was provided, including that of her early death just five years after she made the sampler. 

Worked in silk on linen, it is in excellent condition and conservation mounted into a molded and black painted frame.