Blackwork Sampler
1500-1699
Scroll
Blackwork Sampler
1500-1699
Physical Qualities
Linen ground, silk embroidery threads, 15 5/8 x 9 7/8 in. (39.7 x 25.1 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Dena S. Katzenberg, Baltimore
Object Number
1975.68.3
A spot sampler worked in numerous motifs using silk threads on a plain-woven linen ground. The majority of the sampler is "blackwork", i.e. motifs worked with all black threads in many variations of geometric and scrolled designs of great complexity. The upper portion of the sampler is worked in cream, light blue-grey, and perhaps once coral threads in a varity of geometric and figural motifs including birds, crowns, frogs, and insects. At the bottom right of the sampler are four small motifs worked in a various diamond-shaped designs using colored threads, including dark and light greens, yellow, rust red, coral, and white. The sampler is folded or rolled under and hemmed on all four sides.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1975; Dena S. Katzenberg.
Arthur, Liz. Embroidery 1600-1700 at the Burrell Collection. John Murray (Publishers) Ltd and the Glasgow Museums 1995.
Clabburn, Pamela. The Needleworker’s Dictionary. William Morrow & Company, New York. 1976.
Ellis, Marianne. Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt. Asmolean Museum, University of Oxford. 2001.
Epstein, Kathleen. British Embroidery: Curious Works from the Seventeenth Century. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Curious Works Press. Austin, Texas. 1998.
Gostenow, Mary. Blackwork. Dover Publications. Mineola, New York 1976.
Hackenbroch, Yvonne. English and Other Needlework: Tapestries and Textiles in the Irwin Untermyer Collection. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 1960.
Holme, Geoffrey, ed. A Book of Old Embroidery.
Morrall, Andrew and Milenda Watt, eds. English Embroidery from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1580-1700: ‘Twixt Art and Nature. Yale University Press, New Haven & London. 2008.
Phelan, Dorothy Bromily. The Point of the Needle: Five Centuries of Samplers and Embroideries. Dovecote Press and Curious Works Press Greenville, South Carolina 2001.
Rolleston, Mrs. J.D., ed. The Embroideress: A Periodical Treating of the Practice and History of All Kinds of Decorative Needlework. V. 1 1923 James Pearsall & Co. Ltd and The Old Bleach Linen Co. Ltd.
Thurman, Christa. Textiles in the Art Institute of Chicago. 1992.
Von Lubeck, Genoveva. Blackwork Embroidery. Download 2015.
Wardell, Patricia. Guide to English Embroidery from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her Majesty’s Stationers Office, London 1923.
Whitney Antiques. For Pleasure and Ornament: Embroidered Art Treasures 1580-1835.
Whitney Antiques. Whitney, Oxon 2012.
Whitney Antiques. Stitched in Adversity: Samplers of the Poor, Whitney Antiques.
Whitney, Oxon 2006.
Wilkens, Lesley. Traditional Blackwork Samplers. (a how-to book; information on-line) 2015.
Zimmerman, Jane. The Art of English Blackwork . on-line 2008.
[Bibliography compiled by Helen Beckstrom, volunteer, Textiles, 2015]
Clabburn, Pamela. The Needleworker’s Dictionary. William Morrow & Company, New York. 1976.
Ellis, Marianne. Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt. Asmolean Museum, University of Oxford. 2001.
Epstein, Kathleen. British Embroidery: Curious Works from the Seventeenth Century. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Curious Works Press. Austin, Texas. 1998.
Gostenow, Mary. Blackwork. Dover Publications. Mineola, New York 1976.
Hackenbroch, Yvonne. English and Other Needlework: Tapestries and Textiles in the Irwin Untermyer Collection. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 1960.
Holme, Geoffrey, ed. A Book of Old Embroidery.
Morrall, Andrew and Milenda Watt, eds. English Embroidery from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1580-1700: ‘Twixt Art and Nature. Yale University Press, New Haven & London. 2008.
Phelan, Dorothy Bromily. The Point of the Needle: Five Centuries of Samplers and Embroideries. Dovecote Press and Curious Works Press Greenville, South Carolina 2001.
Rolleston, Mrs. J.D., ed. The Embroideress: A Periodical Treating of the Practice and History of All Kinds of Decorative Needlework. V. 1 1923 James Pearsall & Co. Ltd and The Old Bleach Linen Co. Ltd.
Thurman, Christa. Textiles in the Art Institute of Chicago. 1992.
Von Lubeck, Genoveva. Blackwork Embroidery. Download 2015.
Wardell, Patricia. Guide to English Embroidery from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her Majesty’s Stationers Office, London 1923.
Whitney Antiques. For Pleasure and Ornament: Embroidered Art Treasures 1580-1835.
Whitney Antiques. Whitney, Oxon 2012.
Whitney Antiques. Stitched in Adversity: Samplers of the Poor, Whitney Antiques.
Whitney, Oxon 2006.
Wilkens, Lesley. Traditional Blackwork Samplers. (a how-to book; information on-line) 2015.
Zimmerman, Jane. The Art of English Blackwork . on-line 2008.
[Bibliography compiled by Helen Beckstrom, volunteer, Textiles, 2015]
