The Artwork

Title: The Year’s at the Spring (Sampler with Verse by Robert Browning)
Maker: Turner Manufacturing Co., Decorative Wall Accessory Division
Date: 1973 (labeled and inscribed, likely purchased as a Mother’s Day gift)
Medium: Printed and embroidered-look sampler on textile with floral and pastoral motifs
Frame: Original Turner frame with paper backing and Turner label

About the Maker

Turner Manufacturing Co. was one of America’s largest producers of decorative wall art from the 1940s through the 1970s. Based in Chicago, Turner specialized in producing affordable yet stylish wall décor, including mirrors, framed prints, and decorative samplers like this one. Their products were widely sold through department stores, furniture retailers, and mail-order catalogs, and are now collectible examples of mid-century Americana home décor.

About the Artwork

The sampler features a well-loved verse by poet Robert Browning from Pippa Passes (1841):

The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hillside’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven—
All’s right with the world!

The text is surrounded by a floral border and a pastoral scene of cottages, trees, and grazing animals at the base. The design mimics traditional 19th-century hand-stitched samplers but was produced industrially for decorative display.

The handwritten note on the reverse — “May 13, 1973, Happy Mother’s Day, Jennie” — personalizes this piece, linking it to its original presentation as a gift.