Not a vintage piece of the art, but rather something in a vintage style. I happened across it while searching the Smithsonian sites and thought it would make an appropriate addition here. — Douglas

Vintage Botanical Prints - 62 iin a series - Botanical Alphabet Cross-Stitch from the Anacostia Community Museum

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A botanical alphabet blooms on this colorful cross-stitch sampler bordered in green. As early as the fifteenth century, needlework samplers served as ways to teach and practice sewing, an important domestic skill. They often doubled as academic instruction, like this alphabet sampler made by artist Ira Blount (1918-2020). Each letter features a flower that starts with that letter. For example, an iris stitched in purple, light blue, and gold stands next to a purple letter “I”. At the top, an alphabetical list identifies each flower by name in matching thread colors. Though this sampler does not conform to utilitarian purposes of the past, the intricate stitching demonstrates Blount’s command of a traditional sewing technique.

 
 


Read more on this topic:

  1. Vintage Botanical Prints – 62 in a series – Polyanthus or Cluster Narcissus (1836) from the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. Vintage Botanical Prints – 39 in a series – Rosa lutea (Austrian Rose) from The Botanical Magazine (1797)
  3. Vintage Botanical Prints – 50 in a series – Late Tulips / Bybloemen or Violets, Cooper Hewitt Museum
  4. Vintage Botanical Prints – 25 in a series – Vintage Takayo Black Land Grapes Botanical Print (1913)
  5. Vintage Botanical Prints – 8 in a series – White Cape-Cost Lily from the Cleveland Museum of Art