ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER, wool on linen, eight alphabet rows, signed below "Barbara Noe St. Louis" above five Berlin work pictorial motifs of a rooster and four sprigs of flowers, all encompassed by a scrolling flowering-vine border. Housed under glass and conservation mounted in a period walnut frame with gilt liner. Circa 1865. 18 1/4" x 24" sight, 22 1/4" x 28" OA.
Good to very good overall condition with some scattered small losses to wool, a small hole to linen along one edge, a few stains, light fading and fugitive color to some thread, frame with minor wear and surface scratches. Not examined out of frame.
Published: M. Finkel & Daughter - Samplings: XVII, p. 10, bottom sampler.
Provenance: From the collection of Nick Routson, Phoenix, AZ.M. Finkel & Daughter (retains dealer label).
Catalogue Note: Identified as Barbara Noe who was born in 1851 in St. Louis, MO to Bavarian immigrant parents George Noe (c.1824-1895) and Barbara Esterer Noe (c.1832-1900). The family is listed in the 1860 U.S. Federal Census for the 2nd Ward City of St. Louis as living in dwelling no. 1174, family no. 2628. Barbara married August Martens (b.1854), a German immigrant, and they had at least three children. Barbara died on November 20, 1932 and is buried in an unmarked grave at the old Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery in St. Louis.

Good to very good overall condition with some scattered small losses to wool, a small hole to linen along one edge, a few stains, light fading and fugitive color to some thread, frame with minor wear and surface scratches. Not examined out of frame.