28 May 2012

Map sampler : British Isles with coat of arms


Map samplers have a long history, and antique ones are often highly sought after.  There are some twentieth century examples around.  I'd place this one early to mid-twentieth century in date.  In coming blog entries I will show you several others: at least three of which share stylistic similarities with this one, in the figures and the font.  Being fairly small, it just has room for a representative national figure for each of the countries of the UK, a Scotsman in his kilt, an Englishman in his hunting kit, a Welshwoman and an Irish woman in their national dress (curious, isn't it, this gender split? Easiest gender with which to distinctively represent each country - what's an Englishwoman's national costume? An Irish man's?).  Top left, the coat of arms; top right, a compass; bottom left, a scale in miles.

If you can shed any light on the origin of this design, where it was published/printed/sold, please do leave a comment with any useful links.


1 comment:

  1. As the sampler has the Coat of Arms in the corner might it have been stitched for the coronation 1937? I have 3 map samplers, all showing the British Empire at the time 1937. One is Australia for the Royal Visit 1954. I like the one you are showing, haven't seen it before. Sylvia

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