Casgliadau Arlein

Sampler commemorating the birth of Prince William, 21 June 1982.

Rectangular sampler in portrait format; tent stitch embroidery in multi-coloured wool? yarns on pale yellow cotton canvas ground.

Lettering stitched in red, reading:

'TO CELEBRATE THE BIRTH OF HRH PRINCE WILLIAM'

In the upper centre there is a gold crown with the year of the prince's birth on either side: 19 ... 82. This is inscribed on a blue ribbon which winds through foliage on either side of the emroidery, which is made up of blossoms of shamrock, thistle, daffodil and rose.

A red dragon flanked by butterflies sitting on tendrils of flowers and a rocking horse are below the inscription. Lily of the valley and roses are on either side of the rocking horse. Two sea shells are on both lower corners.

The embroidery is 'signed' B CONNICK on the lower proper left using green thread.

The embroidery is mounted in a wooden, glazed frame. The frame has not been accessioned and can be discarded in future. The back is covered with thick brown paper which is held in place with masking tape. A length of twine is used for hanging from 2 copper ring hooks. If the other sampler (F2023.31.1) is any indication, then this sampler may also have a fine white cotton fabric underlayer in-between the embroidery and the mount board. The canvas is quite open-weave and the board would probably be visible if it wasn't for an interleaving layer.

Just visible underneath the edge of the proper left side of the frame are 9 areas of colour print on the canvas ground fabric. Each printed strip is 1cm long, with a 1cm gap of unprinted fabric in-between.