Embroidered spot sampler

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Spot samplers feature motifs that are scattered in a seemingly random fashion over the surface of the foundation fabric, usually linen. These samplers are rarely signed or dated, and often include motifs that are only partially worked, leading to the conclusion that this type of sampler was made as a personal stitch reference for its maker, and not for display, as band samplers were signed by student embroiderers. In addition to geometric designs that are of the type that would have been used to decorate small purses, cushions, and other accessories, the sampler includes "slips," motifs that would have been worked in tent stitch and then cut out and appliqued onto larger pieces of work that would have been too large and unwieldy to embroider on their own. On this sampler, these motifs include flowers, caterpillars, birds, and dogs, as well as a leopard, stag, and squirrel.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art