Amish sampler with lettering and motifs

Amish sampler with lettering and motifs

Barbara Beiler

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This classic example of a Pennsylvania German sampler was made by an Amish girl. Samplers that show many motifs—this one displays seventy-three—were used primarily to record and practice designs and alphabets that were later referred to when initialing and decorating household textiles.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Amish sampler with lettering and motifsAmish sampler with lettering and motifsAmish sampler with lettering and motifsAmish sampler with lettering and motifsAmish sampler with lettering and motifs

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.