Very Fine Antique Dutch Silk on Linen Darning Sampler with Golden Threads, 1816, Professionally Framed as Found semaphire dial with some of the opposite

with some of the opposite page visible on the backside

4” t x 5” across from handle to wheel

substantial but slightly pliable

but this single example I think is so special I wanted to list it individually

Very Fine Antique Dutch Silk on Linen Darning Sampler with Golden Threads, 1816, Professionally Framed as Found semaphire dial with some of the oppositeAmong the things I'm obsessed with, darning samplers are at the top of the list, especially very finely executed 18th and earlier 19th century Dutch ones like this, dated 1816 to me just astounding in the beauty of those laborious, painstakingly precise, gorgeously colored, intricately patterned darns. (Darns being essentially small, freehand weavings used to mend holes in cloth, and a darning sampler like this a showcase of the maker's ability to