Editing Sampler (needlework)

{{Short description|Textile artwork used to display skills and techniques}}
{{more footnotes|date = April 2014}}
[[File:Sampler (USA), 1831 (CH 18564023).jpg|thumb|An American sampler: "Margaret Barnholt her sampler done in the twelth [sic] year of her age 1831".]]
[[File:H boxers band sampler c 1650.jpg|thumb|English band sampler featuring 'boxers', {{circa|1650}}]]
A needlework '''sampler''' is a piece of [[embroidery]] or [[cross-stitch]]ing produced as a 'specimen of achievement',<ref>Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries, Marcus Huish, Longmans, 1913 "First of all consisting of decorative patterns thrown here and there without care upon the surface of a piece of canvas (see Plate II.); then of designs placed in more orderly rows, and making in themselves a harmonious whole; then added thereto alphabet and figures for the use of those who marked the linen, and as an off-shoot imitation of tapestry pictures by the additions of figures, houses, etc. Finally it was adopted as an educational task in the schools, as a specimen of phenomenal achievement at an early age…"[https://archive.org/details/samplerstapestry00huisrich/page/12]</ref> demonstration or a test of skill in [[needlework]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Lambert, Miss|title=My Croquet Sample|volume=1|year=1847|publisher=D.M. Peyser |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007681167}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Lambert, Miss|title=My Croquet Sample|volume=2|year=1848|publisher=J. Murray |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008596585}}</ref> It often includes the alphabet, figures, motifs, decorative borders and sometimes the name of the person who embroidered it and the date. The word ''sampler'' is derived from the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|exemplum}}, which means 'example'.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Sampler}}</ref>

== History ==
The earliest sampler extant is a spot sampler, i.e. one having randomly scattered motifs, of the Nazca culture in Peru<ref>{{cite web| url = https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/individual-textiles-and-textile-types/samplers/nasca-sample-peru| title = Textile Research Centre}}</ref> formerly in the Museum of Primitive Art, New York City. It is estimated to date from ca. 200 BCE –300 CE and is worked in cotton and wool pattern darning on a woven cotton ground. It has seventy-four figures of birds, plants and mythological beings.<ref>Sebba, Anne, ''Samplers, Five Centuries of a Gentle Craft'', New York: Thames and Hudson, 1979. p. 6. {{ISBN|0-500-23300-4}}.</ref>

Coptic sampler fragments<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.google.com/search?q=coptic+sampler+fragment&udm=2| title = Google images of Coptic sampler fragments}}</ref> of silk on linen in double running stitch and pattern darning have been found in Egyptian burial grounds of 400–500 CE. These are pattern samplers having designs based on early Christian symbols.<ref>Sebba 1979, pp. 6–7.</ref>

Samplers were known to be used by stitchers in Europe as early as the beginning of the 16th century, although none that early have been found. A collection of fifty {{lang|es|dechados}} (samplers) was listed in the 1509 inventory of the possessions of Queen Joanna (Juana I, 1479–1555) of Castile (Spain). They were described as stitchery and {{lang|es|deshilado}} (drawn thread work), some in silk and others in gold thread. At the time of the inventory they were in the care of her chamberlain [[Diego de Rivera]] and his son Alonso, but they have all disappeared.<ref>Segura Lacomba, Maravillas, ''Bordados Populaires Españoles'', Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Instituto ″San Jose de Calasanz″ de Pedagogia, 1949. p.72.</ref>

Early mentions of samplers in text include Skelton (1469-1529),<ref>Huish, Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries "the sampler to sowe on, the laces to embroide"</ref> and Shakespeare (1564-1616).<ref> Midsummer Nights Dream Helena to Hermia "...We, Hermia... Have with our needles created both one flower, Both on one sampler etc,."</ref>

The oldest surviving European samplers were made in the 16th and 17th centuries. As there were few pre-printed patterns available for needleworkers, a stitched model was needed. Whenever a [[needleworker]] saw a new and interesting example of a stitching pattern, they would quickly sew a small sample of it onto a piece of cloth – their 'sampler'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/a-history-of-samplers/|title=A History of Samplers|website=www.vam.ac.uk|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|language=en-GB|access-date=2017-11-20}}</ref> The patterns were sewn randomly onto the fabric as a reference for future use, and the needleworker would collect extra stitches and patterns throughout their lifetime.

The first printed pattern book {{lang|de|Furm oder Modelbüchlein}} was published by Johann Schönsperger the Younger of Augsburg in 1523, but it was not easily obtainable and a sampler was the most common form of reference available to many women. Pattern books<ref>Huish cites The Needles Excellency... "wherein are divers admirable works wrought with the needle", printed for James Boler, and are to be sold at the Syne of the Marigold in Paules Churchyard"</ref> were widely copied and issued by other publishers. Some are still available in reprint today.<ref>Banham, Joanna, ed. ''Encyclopedia of Interior Design'', London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997. vol. 2 p. 858 ″Needlework″ {{ISBN|1-884964-19-2}}</ref>

The earliest English dated surviving sampler, housed in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] in [[London]], was made by Jane Bostocke who included her name and the date 1598 in the inscription. Stitched with silk and metal thread on linen it has pictorial figures above with border and all-over patterns below. The inscription reads:

{{poemquote|JANE BOSTOCKE 1598
ALICE LEE WAS BORNE THE 23 OF NOVEMBER BE
ING TWESDAY IN THE AFTER NOONE 1596<ref>Browne, Clare and Jennifer Wearden, ''Samplers from the Victoria and Albert Museum'', London: V&A Publications, 1999. pp. 8, 12, 28–33. {{ISBN|185177-309-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O46183/sampler-jane-bostocke/|title=Sampler By Jane Bostocke|website=www.collections.vam.ac.uk|date=1598 |publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|language=en-GB|access-date=2021-12-03}}</ref>}}

The museum has two other samplers believed to date from the 16th century, one from Germany with religious motifs and one from Italy with floral patterns and grotesques. Both are worked in silk and linen.
[[File:H 1786 'biblical' sampler by Elizabeth Ross.jpg|thumb|'Biblical' sampler by Elizabeth Ross dated 1786]]
[[File:Sarah Littleton sampler - DPLA - 0d33db0ad08813edd99631d7ff873ca3 (page 1).jpg|alt=Berlin work sampler by Sarah Littleton, 1868|thumb|Berlin work sampler by Sarah Littleton, 1868]]
A Dutch sampler dated 1585 survives in the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum in Arnhem.{{cn|date=June 2022}}

A sampler in the Museum of London has two cutwork bands stitched in silk, gold, and silver threads and thirteen bands of ''reticella'' whitework in white linen thread. The fourth band from the top has the initials E R, the royal arms of Queen Elizabeth I, and the maker's name SUSAN NEGABRI in bold letters. It is believed to date before the queen's death in 1603.<ref>Hughes, Therle, ''English Domestic Needlework 1660–1860'', London: Abbey Fine Arts, 1961. p. 76, fig. 30.</ref>

Because very few samplers from the 16th century have been found it is not possible to generalize about their style and appearance. By the middle of the 17th century English, Dutch, and German samplers were being stitched on a narrow band of fabric {{convert|6|–|9|in|mm|abbr=on}} wide. Hand-woven linen, bleached or unbleached, is the foundation material of early samplers.<ref>Huish, Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries, 1913, p.171.</ref> As fabric was very expensive, these samplers were totally covered with neat rows of stitches. They were known as '''band samplers''' and valued highly, often being mentioned in wills and passed down through the generations. These samplers were stitched using a variety of needlework styles, threads, and ornament. Many of them were exceedingly elaborate, incorporating subtly shaded colours, [[silk]] and metallic [[embroidery]] threads, and using stitches such as Hungarian, Florentine, tent, cross, long-armed cross, two-sided Italian cross, rice, running, [[Holbein stitch|Holbein]], Algerian eye and buttonhole stitches. The samplers also incorporated small designs of flowers and animals, and geometric designs stitched using as many as 20 different colors of thread.<ref>Don, Sarah, ''Traditional Samplers'', Newton Abbot and London: David and Charles, 1986. pp. 11–14. {{ISBN|0-71538713-8}}</ref> Some were stitched partially or entirely in whitework.

Band samplers were more decorative than the utilitarian random motif '''spot samplers''', and stitchers finished them by adding their names, dates of completion, and sometimes teacher or school names. As the work of sampler making moved into schools in the late 17th and early 18th centuries design styles changed. Alphabets and verses were added along with pictorial elements such as architectural motifs, landscapes, and large potted plants. Educational themes included maps, multiplication tables, perpetual calendars, and acrostic puzzles.<ref>Mayor, Susan and Diana Fowle, ''Samplers'', Wakefield RI and London: Moyer Bell, 1996. pp. 7–11. {{ISBN|1-55921-154-7}}</ref> The earliest samplers from [[Barbados]] date from 1771 (held by the [[Royal School of Needlework]]), made by Martha Collymore, with another made by Jane Rollstone Alleyne in 1777 owned by the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]. Both have a band following much earlier 17th-century sampler patterns, and are presumed to be created under the tutelage of the same teacher, using older reference materials from earlier generations of white colonisers on the island.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Following Threads to Colonial Barbados {{!}} History Today |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/following-threads-colonial-barbados |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=www.historytoday.com}}</ref>

By the 18th century, samplers were a complete contrast to the scattered samples sewn earlier on. They became wider and more square, eventually with borders on all four sides. Samplers were mainly school exercises or mourning samplers<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lordlibidan.com/death-and-cross-stitch/|title=Death and cross stitch|website=www.lordlibidan.com|date=30 January 2018 |publisher=Lord Libidan|language=en-GB|access-date=2021-12-03}}</ref> during the 18th and 19th centuries, and were almost entirely worked in cross stitch.<ref name=":0" />

Design styles were increasingly influenced by [[Berlin wool work|Berlin woolwork]] which became popular worldwide, due to the availability of patterns, initially emanating from Berlin, Germany. This style of needlework reached its height of popularity between the 1830s and 1870s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Needle arts : a social history of American needlework.|publisher=Time-Life Books|others=Time-Life Books.|year=1990|isbn=0-8094-6841-7|location=Alexandria, Va.|oclc=21482166}}</ref>{{rp|36}} These samplers were stitched more to demonstrate knowledge than to preserve skill. The stitching of samplers was believed to be a sign of virtue, achievement and industry, and girls were taught the art from a young age.<ref>Sebba 1979, pp.113–121</ref>

Berlin woolwork designs had naturalistic shading and more depth of perspective than the flat two-dimensional objects on traditional needlework. By mid-19th century adult needleworkers were devising long and narrow stitch samplers having geometric patterns done in woolwork. The Art Needlework movement and elimination of samplers from female education brought about the decline in traditional sampler making that continued into the 20th century.

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Sampler by Elizabeth Laidman, 1760.jpg|Cross-stitch alphabet sampler worked by Elizabeth Laidman, 1760
File:Sampler (England), 1683 (CH 18483261).jpg|Sampler dated 1683 
File:H band sampler c 1712.jpg|English band sampler by Elizabeth Axton dated 1712
File:1791 sampler.jpg|Sampler from [[Salem, Massachusetts]], dated 1791
File:Merklap 1805 Sampler.jpg|Sampler worked by Catharine Ann Speel in silk on linen, Philadelphia, dated 1805
File:Embroidered Sampler MET DT200.jpg|Sampler made by 12-year-old Patty Coggeshall of Rhode Island, dated 1792<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/14049|title=Embroidered Sampler|website=www.metmuseum.org|date=1792 |access-date=2020-01-25}}</ref>
</gallery>

== Modern samplers ==
Samplers are widely stitched today, some using kits purchased from needlework shops, some from chart-packs, and many from patterns available on the Internet or through e-mail from designers. Patterns range from simple using only one stitch, to complex, using 15 to 20 and more stitches. Designs range widely in style, from accurate reproductions of historic pieces to much more contemporary and modern styles including subversive stitching.  Popular topics include designs commemorating births and marriages, family trees, and mottoes of all kinds. Map charts are widely available in English-speaking countries and Denmark. These are often pictorial maps of local areas, whole countries, or even the imaginary realms of Tolkien's Middle-earth. Many sampler reproductions are also available, copying colors and imperfect stitches from the originals.

The word "sampler" is sometimes inaccurately applied to any piece of needlework meant for display. However, the genre may broadly be said to include any needlework in sampler style with or without lettering.

Materials used include [[aida cloth]], [[evenweave]], and linen fabrics, in cotton, linen, and man-made materials combined in more and more ways; and fibers from cotton floss to silk, rayon, viscose, and metallic.

==See also==
*[[Cross-stitch|Cross stitch]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070207134713/http://www.r3.org/bookcase/wardrobe/ward10.html Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York: Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV at the Richard III Society site], retrieved February 20, 2007
*Fawdry, Marguerite and Deborah Brown, ''The Book of Samplers'', New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980, {{ISBN|0-312-09006-4}}
*Marcus B Huish, ''Samplers & Tapestry Embroideries'', Longmans, Green, and Co., 1913,

==External links==
{{commons category|Samplers}}
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*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150822122126/http://inaminuteago.com/articles/samplerhist.html A brief history of embroidery samplers]
*[http://www.needleworksamplers.com Sampler history and design]
*[http://www.museocaprai.it/en/collezione_search.php?pagina=1&mostra=0&epoca=-1&tipo_id=-1&tecnica_id=-1&prov_id=-1&Search_string=sampler Old Sampler - Virtual Museum of Textile Arts]
*[https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/category/306649 Images of samplers from the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100729135531/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/textiles/features/samplers/index.html Samplers at the Victoria and Albert Museum]
*[[Victoria and Albert Museum]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929134411/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/textiles/stories/sampler/index.html Sampler story; Textiles]

{{embroidery}}

[[Category:Embroidery]]