Early Samplers For Auction at Christie's * London * 21 June 2011

Lot 445 is a pretty English sampler by Elizabeth Bridge which she helpfully states was completed in November 1712. Sometimes we can never be sure when a date is given by itself, whether the sampler was begun or finished in the stated year. Worked in silks and couched metal threads to a natural linen ground, it has rows of floral bunches, an alphabet and numbers along the top, and a central pious verse, beneath which sits a crown flanked by birds. It measures 8 x 19 in. (20 x 48 cm.) and is mounted in a bird's eye maple frame, glazed. its estimate is £700-£1,000.

Lot 451 is also an English sampler with a date of 1687 on an upper row. Lower down is text worked and inscribed in Latin by Katherine Ann Robinson declaring herself from Ayton in Yorkshire and the natural daughter of George and Elizabeth Robinson. The style of the texts appear to my eye later than many of the other motifs. Worked in wools and silks to a natural coloured ground with an alphabet and numerical panel to the top, pious verses in the centre, above several rows worked with flowers, birds and people it measures 9 x 17 in. (23 x 43 cm.) Estimate is £1,000 - £1,200

Finally lot 331, which is a needlework picture as opposed to a sampler. It is dated circa 1680 and is worked in silks with a central vignette of a shepherd and a lady, either side of an acorn tree, with sheep and a dog in the hillocky foreground, the border a flowering and fruiting garland. It measures 17 in. (43 cm.) square and is framed and glazed. Its estimate is £1,000 - £1,200.
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