Object Description
Regency period Norfolk Sampler, 1828, by E A Giscard Aged 12. The sampler is worked in silk threads on a linen ground, in cross stitch and Algerian eye. Meandering strawberry and leaf border. Colours green, red, light brown, dark brown, silver, black, gold and blue. Alphabets A-Z in upper case and numbers 1-16. Inscription reads, ‘Learn to live well that thou mayst die so too, To live and die is all we have to do.’. Signed and dated ‘E A Giscard Downham. 1828 Aged 12’. Placename Downham refers to Downham Market, a town in Norfolk, England. A horizontal band of elongated octagons along the bottom of the piece. A scattering of motifs, including potted flowering plants, flowers, fruit baskets, fir trees and birds. Framed in an old, burr maple frame with glass. Mounting: The sampler is tacked to a wood stretcher frame. Frame backed with brown paper and sealed with tape.. Dimensions exclude the frame and slip.