Embroidered band sampler

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Band samplers are composed of horizontal rows ("bands") of embroidered patterns stitched along the linen foundation fabric. Many of the patterns stitched onto band samplers can be traced to sixteenth-century pattern books, and often include depictions of fruit, flowers, and geometric patterns. The top portion of the sampler consists of whitework, while the rest utilizes colored silk threads. The letters HB and the year 1676 are stitched onto the linen, most likely the initials of the maker and the year in which she completed her work.

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