Embroidered whitework sampler

Unknown

ca. 1600 · Cutwork · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Whitework samplers typically consist of a variety of stitches and lace-making techniques, all stitched in white thread. It is thought that samplers containing whitework, cutwork, drawnwork, and lace designs were stitched only after multi-colored band samplers were finished, as whitework techniques are more difficult. However, this theory is based on the very small number of documented seventeenth-century embroiderers who made multiple samplers. This sampler features geometric designs worked in reticella, which requires a stitcher to remove warp and weft threads from a piece of woven fabric, stabilize the void with buttonhole stitches and the create designs based on the remaining grid. While many surviving English samplers include white lace, cutwork, and drawnwork, relatively few examples of seventeenth-century lace have been attributed to English manufacture.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1600

Medium

Cutwork

Culture

Italian or British

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Purchase by subscription, 1909