Ellen Till's 1842 English Needlework Sampler

Silk on fine linen worked in cross stitch, England, with Adam & Eve below a fruiting tree surrounded by symmetrically placed flowering plants, baskets of flowers, trees, birds, stars, and butterflies, the upper register with verse from a hymn by Isaac Watts: "Why do we mourn departing friends / Or shake at deaths alarms / Tis but the voice that Jesus sends / To call them to his arms" and lower register stating "Ellen Till finished this work / February the 8 1842 / Aged 12 Years," with trailing flower-bud border, framed in thick antique wooden frame with gilded liner.

17 1/2 x 19 1/2 framed dimensions

Fading; discoloration; small holes to linen; backing torn, revealing newsprint lining behind sampler; some scuffs to frame; not examined out of frame.