Maria Lloyd

This is a particularly outstanding, large sampler that rewards close study as there are many excellent and interesting motifs and pictorial depictions. Notable are Adam and Eve (in the attire of 1830s children!) with the serpent wrapped around the apple tree and the Georgian brick house with a tree wonderfully bent to fit over the roof. A great number of birds and animals, large and small, are nestled in along with angels, little people, potted flowers, butterflies, hearts and crowns. This samplermaker filled her sampler with more varied sampler motifs than found on any other sampler in our experience.

A fine verse, advising good deeds to the poor and needy, was neatly stitched, and the entire composition is surrounded with a praiseworthy border of intricate flower blossoms.

The handsome uppercase letters that Maria used for her inscription are very unusual. While we haven’t found the name for this font, the style may have originated in graphic monograms of the period. 

Worked in silk on wool, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a burl wood frame.