Embroidered Sampler

Embroidered Sampler

Lucy Jane Phelps Atwater

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lucy Jane Phelps was a resident of West Townsend, Vermont. According to family history, however, she spent a year at a convent school in Cincinnati, where she worked this sampler. She was probably in her teens at the time; instead of such basics as the alphabet and numbers, Lucy received training in fancy embroidery and darning, sewing techniques that were useful for ornamenting and mending clothing.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Embroidered SamplerEmbroidered SamplerEmbroidered SamplerEmbroidered SamplerEmbroidered Sampler

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.