Blackwork Sampler
1500-1699
Physical Qualities
Linen ground, silk embroidery threads, 15 5/8 x 9 7/8 in. (39.7 x 25.1 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Dena S. Katzenberg, Baltimore
Object Number
1975.68.3
A spot sampler worked in numerous motifs using silk threads on a plain-woven linen ground. The majority of the sampler is "blackwork", i.e. motifs worked with all black threads in many variations of geometric and scrolled designs of great complexity. The upper portion of the sampler is worked in cream, light blue-grey, and perhaps once coral threads in a varity of geometric and figural motifs including birds, crowns, frogs, and insects. At the bottom right of the sampler are four small motifs worked in a various diamond-shaped designs using colored threads, including dark and light greens, yellow, rust red, coral, and white. The sampler is folded or rolled under and hemmed on all four sides.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1975; Dena S. Katzenberg.
"Stitches in Time", Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA, March 5 - April 30, 1978.