Embroiderers' Guild To Auction Samplers and Textiles @ Ewbanks on 26 March 2014

Rare and exquisite textiles spanning more than 350 years and kept formerly at Hampton Court Palace are to be sold by Ewbank’s, Surrey. The collection of hundreds of examples of embroidery, lace and needlework from the British Isles and overseas will be offered on March 26. The item above is a William and Mary lace box with petit point top and side panels depicting a mythical beast in landscape is made of laburnum wood with parquetry inlay to its interior. It is estimated at £300-500.

The sale includes two samplers by 13-year-old Sophia Richards, completed respectively in 1831 and 1835. More valuable of the two is worked in coloured silks with the epithet: How fast my fleeting minutes run! in a symmetrical design of figures, flowers and dove cotes. It is estimated at £100-150, while the other, embroidered with figures and a verse, is estimated at £80-120.

Ewbank’s textiles specialist Andrea Machen said: We are thrilled to be bringing to market these historical items with such excellent provenance. It has been a privilege to catalogue them for this the first time they have been available for sale.

A feature of the collection is a wide range of children’s embroidered samplers, some dating from as early as the 17th century. Most valuable is an 18th century example (below) decorated with the Ten Commandments, a vase of flowers and a floral border. It is estimated at £200-300.

An 18th century waistcoat embrroidered in silk with sprays of flowers and set with steel beads is estimated at £80-120, while among European examples, a group of two Spanish embroidered silk waistcoats decorated in coloured silks with floral embroidery are together estimated at £100-150, as is an exotic 18th century Indian waistcoat with gold coloured silk flower embroidery and a panel with coloured and silver decoration.

For further information on this sale, click here or to contact the auctioneer call 01483 223101 or email antiques@ewbankauctions.co.uk

Needleprint 10th Anniversary - Save $95.

To share our 10th anniversary celebrations with you, we are offering throughout the month of March 2014 a Free Goodhart Samplers Book or a Free Feller Needlework Collection Volume 1 with every copy of The Feller Needlework Collection Volume 2. You can take advantage of this special offer today. It comes with all our kindest wishes in this our last year before retirement.