HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA ATTRIBUTED PICTORIAL NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER, silk on linen, signed "Clarinda Fitler's Work Done / In The Year A.D. / 1832" above a large vignette of a pastoral scene, featuring a farmer walking with two cows in the foreground, the background with trees and buildings having a few clouds above in the blue sky, two sides with floral border, top edge with a large arrangement of roses. Housed under glass in a modern frame. Dated 1832. 19 5/8" x 20 1/2" sight, 21 5/8" x 22 5/8" OA.
Provenance: Green Valley Auctions, 9/29/2022, lot 274.
Catalogue Note: The identity of Clarinda Fitler is unknown. She could potentially be a relative of Mathias Fitler (c.1774-c.1854) of Maryland, who married Elizabeth Sine (Sign) (c.1783-c.1860) of Shenandoah Co., VA on January 31, 1804. The Fitler name eventually evolved to Spitler and Spitzer. There are a few Harrisonburg, VA samplers dated 1834 and 1835 with similar floral borders and pastoral scenes. See Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, 7/25/2009, lot 120 for one by Sarah Ann Gibbons; Rocktown History Center, catalogue number 21.07.01 for one by Mary Ann Heneberger; and The Virginia Women's Cultural History Project, "A Share of Honour", Virginia Women, 1600-1945, 1984, p. 66, illustrated fig. for one by Mary Elizabeth Effinger.
Very good visual condition with linen having toning and a few holes to upper fourth, a few scattered stains, some thread with fading/fugitive color, edges adhered to a cardboard panel, frame with wear and surface scratches, lacking most of back panel. Not examined out of frame.