This sweet sampler has a charming oval with a young girl stroking or feeding a sheep. The verse appears in 18th century books on home management. Also in the Child's Best Instructor, 1756. The verse appears to have been widely used on samplers.* Framed in the original 18th century carved wood frame and glass.
A verse above the oval of the small girl wearing a cream hat and dress sitting under a tree with a sheep, a house and flying birds behind, above a scroll Sarah Jemima Morris 1796, the oval surorunded by leafy flower trails, the whole surruonded by a meander border with upright flowers, worked in green, blue, cream, ochre, soft red, taupe, black, embroidered in silks on a wool ground.
Virtue's the cheifest beauty of the mind;The noblest ornament of humankind; Virtue's our safeguard and our guiding star; That stirs up reason when our senses err; Tell me ye knowing and discovering few; Where I may find a friend both firm and true; Who dares stand by me when I'm in deep distress; And then his love and friendship must express.
Original craved eighteenth century frame and glass.
18 x 15 in; 46 x 39 cm wide
The verse is difficult to read because some of the words have been embroidered in pale silks. The oval with the girl is very charming. I have enjoyed having it on my wall for a number of years.
We have had this hand sewn to calico, stretched over acid free board and put back in the original frame. The corners of the frame have a little wear.
Fitzwilliam, Cambridge. A later sampler by Elizabeth Wade, aged 13 in 1824 T172-1928.
All images and text © meg-andrews.com 2021
