A Charming George III Needlework Map Sampler c.1790

SOLD

Origin: English
Period: Late Eighteenth Century
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1790
In Frame: 25 X 20.5 inches

The George III period needlework map sampler crafted in three colours depicting England, Ireland, Wales and parts of Scotland with simulated map border, worked by Louisa Dawson and dated 1790, glazed and presented in an ebonised and gilded frame.

The forest green, fuchsia pink and inky blue threads in the picture are fully in tact with no areas of loss or moth. The colours have a general but slight fade that is wholly expected, and commensurate with age. There are two or three ring spots of stain.

Map samplers are highly interesting simply because they show the world as it was at the time. This example, in 1790, has various quirks such as mentioning the St Georges channel and the Isle of Lundy, and the fact that most of Scotland is ignored, Berwick and Edinburgh aside.

Britain itself in 1790 saw William Bligh arriving back in Britain with the first report of the Mutiny on the Bounty and the 91-mile Oxford Canal is opened, providing an important link between the River Thames at Oxford and Coventry in the English Midlands.

Elsewhere across the world in the year of 1790, France is divided into 83 départements, which cut across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on noble ownership of land and Robert Gray is the first American to circumnavigate the Earth. American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin also died in 1790.

A charming and wonderfully decorative talking point.

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