Norfolk, England is known for its extraordinarily beautiful samplers, and Elizabeth Butterton’s is a very fine example. Elizabeth almost certainly worked this sampler as a schoolgirl exercise. In England, as in America and other parts of Europe, samplers were tools for teaching letters, numerals, and moral precepts as well as fancy stitching. Elizabeth’s sampler boasts a distinctive Norfolk stepped diamond cartouche containing the usual alphabets and prayers, delicate designs of deer and trees, border patterns, and corner spandrels filled with floral designs. She left no space empty, finishing her central diamond with floral finials at top and bottom, expanding it to the sides, and employing crowns and a variety of lines and marks elsewhere. The finely woven ground allowed for exquisite stitching in silk threads to show off Elizabeth’s finely honed skill with a needle. Her sampler joins the Museum’s collection of schoolgirl needleworkfrom America, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Italy, and France.