Very Fine Antique Dutch Silk on Linen Darning Sampler with Golden Threads, 1816, Professionally Framed as Found traditional mola tempera on paper

tempera on paper

There is a bit of warping to the base such that it sits not quite flush and the edge of stable has separated from the base a hair at one end

this is the second to largest variety

I sense a rich inner life churning underneath his rose-colored cap

made of hide

Very Fine Antique Dutch Silk on Linen Darning Sampler with Golden Threads, 1816, Professionally Framed as Found traditional mola tempera on paperAmong 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