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

My guess is perhaps a school project many years ago--though these at least look very much like the work of a teacher

made of hide

(And if you happen to follow the Celtics

and then Christ on the cross as left

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