Great luck and pure joy to find this one this week on a swing through some favorite shops in New Hampshire. If there is one absolute favorite thing I've discovered the existence of over the last number of years dealing antiques it is darning samplers--to my eye just the most visually exquisite things in addition to embodying what seems now like just unfathomable skill and labor. And the most exquisite and precious examples are the early ones, this one signed and dated in cross-stitch, 1772.
Darning is the art of mending holes in fabric--so these darning samplers were exercises in perfecting the art of replicating various types of weave structures, and meant to show the accomplishment of those skills. But oh, if there we ever a craft that felt like a modernist artwork, all about color and pattern and composition and mark-making, this would be that, and this one in the most serene-subtle-sophisticated sort of palette too.
Dutch I believe. I can make out the middle name of Catharina, which would be Dutch or Swedish (and most of these beautiful early ones are Dutch) though the first and last name are a bit hard to fully decipher. Dated June 22, 1772 from what I can tell, with "Anno" surrounding the year, and US to either side of that, the meaning of which here I am not certain.
Framed as found, under glass: 13 1/2" x 10 3/4". Sampler" 12 3/4" x 10". The thin black stained frame is a simple one, with age to it, backed with wood, then brown paper over that, which has been torn away in a few spots. The top left corner of the frame is just a bit loose where it comes together--I wouldn't leave it as is, but one wants to be a little gentle with it. The sampler itself shows some scattered spots and general toning, as it should--very much all of a piece with it. No losses that I see and it appears, looks quite sound and stable. A beauty.
You might also like
