Conjugal Rights
£12.60
The Victorians and Edwardians used to love Motto Samplers to hang over the fireplace, or in some prominent position in the kitchen. They were relatively uncomplicated affairs which usually bore a few mawkish words such as “Home Sweet Home” or an uplifting Biblical phrase like “Fight the Good Fight”. This style of sampler was often worked in wool on a paperboard backing hence their other name, “Punched Paper Samplers”.
But these upright pillars of society were not always quite so strait-laced as they would have us think. If a certain antique dealer from Cornwall is to be believed (although a pinch of salt might come in handy), when the vertical Victorians got horizontal in their big brass beds the wording on the samplers that hung above stepped up a notch or three to echo the mood. “I Need Thee Every Hour” on the wife’s side of the bed and “Lord Give me Strength” above the husband’s. Lord let our cry come unto Thee. Amen.
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- Area in stitches: 189 x 109 each sampler