An early George III needlework sampler by Mary Saunders, dated 1763, finely worked in coloured silks with Adam and Eve flanking the Tree of Life below accompanying verse, further decorated with a girl and a black harlequin, surrounded by animals and plants, 42cm x 31cm, within a later burrwood frame. Note: samplers depicting people of colour are extremely rare; a number of much later samplers exist, made in the 1830s, which depict the famous image of the kneeling slave raising his hands in supplication. The extensive collection of samplers at Colonial Williamsburg contains one example featuring a black harlequin figure, dated 1803 (object number 1995-208, A).