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Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
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Sampler
Woollen canvas, embroidered with coloured silks in cross, chain, stem and flat stitches. At the top is the name 'Mary Joyce'. Below there is an oval wreath containing a bird, flanked by floral and bird designs. In the centre beneath the date August 1808 is the following verse: 'The busy bee, with ceaseless hum, Morn, noon, and evening, sucks the flowers, Think you such honey e'er will come, To those who waste their fleeting hours?' At the bottom is a recumbent stag between two flowering trees with butterflies surmounted by a basket of rose buds. There is a border of a wavy stem with strawberries. (Source: Guide to the Collection of Samplers & Embroideries (Cardiff: National Museum of Wales, 1939) by F. G. Payne).