Page 33 - Demo

29Miniature Marking and House Sampler, American, circa 1820This diminutive sampler descended in a Salem County, New Jersey family and was likely worked by a very young girl, perhaps while attending what was known as a %u201cdame%u2019s school.%u201d These small schools existed for the instruction of children up to six years of age and, %u201coffered elementary lessons in small, simple crossstitched marking or alphabet samplers,%u201d according to Mary Jaene Edmonds in Samplers and Samplermakers: An American Schoolgirl Art 1700-1850. The simplicity of design, the specific working of some of the stitches, and the fact that the sampler is not signed or dated would support the likelihood that this was an early, practice piece. It is also interesting to note that the building seems to have a trade sign nearby, rarely seen on samplers of any type.Worked in silk on linen, this is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a late 19th century veneer frame. Sampler size: 9%u00be%u201d x 6%u201dFrame size: 11%u00bc%u201d x 7%u00bd%u201dPrice: $1800.As she so notes on her finely worked little sampler, %u201cElisabeth Turner Finish%u2019d this sampler October ye 15 1779.%u201d A very sweet display of skillful stitches create flowers and trees, yellow birds and spotted deer, decorative bands and a framework border, and a verse we haven%u2019t previously seen on a sampler. The couplet reads: %u201cLet all the foreign Tongues alone Till you can read and spell your own.%u201d This most appealing verse was written by Isaac Watts and appears on the cover of his The Art of Reading and Writing English: of, The Chief Principles and Rules of Pronouncing our MotherTongue, both in Prose and Verse; with a Variety of Instructions for True Spelling(London, 1722).Worked in silk on wool the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a molded gold frame.Sampler size: 8%u201d x 5%u00be%u201dFrame size: 9%u00be%u201d x 7%u00bd%u201dPrice: $2400.Elisabeth Turner, England, 1779