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This sampler, probably
Danish, was stitched with brilliantly colored (and well
preserved) silk threads on a fine woolen ground. A
handwritten genealogy was affixed to the back, tracing
ownership of the sampler from the maker, Anniken, to her
daughter, and so on, for over 150 years, until it was sold
anonymously at auction. The distinctive band of flowers
within satin stitched diamonds across the top closely
resembles examples illustrated in the book Nanveklude by
Minna Kragelund (published for the Nationalmuseet of
Copenhagen in 1977), particularly figures 1 and 2, dated
1750 and 1779. Some of the motifs seen in this sampler can
be traced to Johan Sibmacher's pattern books, the first of
which was printed in Germany around 1600. The Scandinavian
word for 'sampler'- navneklude- means, literally, "name
cloths". Stitches used in the execution of this sampler are
cross, counted satin, four-sided, eyelet, and back. While
the five flowers within diamonds across the top were
stitched freehand on the original sampler, charted (as well
as freehand scale drawings) have been supplied.
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