Sampler

Anna Buckett

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This type of sampler is known as a band sampler, composed of horizontal rows or bands of embroidered patterns worked along the surface of the linen. Most of the patterns themselves were quite old-fashioned by this time; many of them derive from sixteenth-century printed pattern books. This sampler was made during the Commonwealth period when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector of England. Anna Buckett, the maker of the sampler, dated it precisely to July 12, 1656—perhaps the day it was completed. This particular example has the additional feature of a small landscape at the top, where a couple face each other; a loyal dog and Cupid, swooping down from above, encourage their happy union. The presence of the pictorial scene brings the sampler into the realm of decorative objects produced as an end in and of themselves.

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