US Sampler Auction - A Way With Squirrels

For a change we can have a little look at some items for auction in the USA. All these items are for sale on 29 and 30 December 2010 through the Kaminski Auction Gallery, Beverly, Massachusetts. This charming sampler caught my eye immediately. It was only by looking a little closer and a little longer that I saw the squirrel perched on the girl's elbow. The sampler is early 19th Century and was wrought by Lydia Robertson, May 8th, 1807. It measures 19 1/4" x 19 1/2" and has several areas small areas of damage. It is lot 9204 and the estimate is: $400 - $600.

Lot 8003 in the same sale is a lete 18th early 19th Century framed narrow textile fragment measuring 47 1/2" x 9 1/2" and has an estimate of $275 - $375

And this item, Lot 8011, I find particularly interesting. It is described as a late 18th or early 19th Century framed textile fragment. It is certainly a sampler and I think it may come from Morocco or North Africa with many motifs familiar to us from the Islamic Near East. However, that band in the top left hand corner of the detail image looks Italianate so other possibilities are Greek Islands which changed hands between Venice and Ottoman Turkey in the 17th and 18th centuries. I love it - it is a whole compendium of fabulous designs and measures 30" x 37 1/2". There is some discolouration and the estimate is $300 - $400