Sampling cloth
Embroidery samplers , early modern model scarves , engl. samplers are pieces of fabric, preferably made of linen, on which certain traditional but individually selected border patterns, symbols, motifs, letters and numbers are embroidered, usually using the cross stitch technique. They served both to learn and practice the embroidery technique as well as to memorize and pass on the motif repertoire; For a long time, their production was an integral part of the family and school education of girls. Usually they contain a date of origin and the name of the manufacturer.
history
The oldest surviving samplers on the European continent date from the second half of the 17th century. They were preceded by printed pattern books with woodcuts from the early 16th century, and later copperplate engravings that provided patterns and motifs for weaving, knitting and embroidery. In the course of the 17th and 18th centuries, their tradition passed from the original books to patterned samplers that were densely embroidered with patterns and motifs. As part of the training in domestic activities, the preparation of such samples was part of the private upbringing of middle-class girls. Since otherwise undecorated items of laundry were at least marked with the owner's initials , for example to be able to tell them apart on the common bleaching area , alphabets and numbers were also implemented in embroidery patterns.
In the oldest scarves, continuous ornamental patterns in openwork or complicated stitch types such as flat, chain and braided stitches predominate. Then, in the 18th century, the technique concentrated on the cross stitch , which was set on the linen base with strong colored wool threads. At the same time there is a tendency towards symmetrical layout and an accumulation of small-format motifs with pictorial unity. A canon of frequently recurring motifs (tree of life, sailing ship, heraldically stylized animals, flowers and bouquets, buildings) had developed and was handed down over generations. It will therefore hardly be possible to draw conclusions from the image motifs about the manufacturers of the samplers in question. However, Old Testament scenes such as Joshua and Caleb are more widespread in the Protestant landscapes of the north, mariological and christological elements, for example the crucifixion, an Easter lamb, Arma Christi or depictions of saints, on the other hand, are more widespread in Catholic southern Germany.
By the middle of the 19th century, samplers had become an integral part of girls' education and found their way into curricula and books. In 1872, handicraft lessons were standardized in schools in Prussia. Since then, the samplers have consisted of prefabricated canvas squares , on which the pupils embroidered the alphabet and numbers with Turkish red cotton thread, but hardly any ornaments or picture motifs.
The role of the sampler as a medium for exercise and learning was coming to an end since the reform movements of the turn of the century placed greater emphasis on children's creativity and, at the latest, after the First World War, when the educational ideal of the Weimar period , which excluded inappropriate discipline , was no longer used. Many embroidery samplers were then included in museum collections, but are usually only shown temporarily for conservation reasons. Nonetheless, the making of samplers and the maintenance of their motif world live on as nostalgic leisure activities of adults to this day.
literature
- Nina Gockerell: Sampler . German Kunstverlag, Munich 1980
- Marianne Stradal and Ulrike Brommer: With a needle and thread . Freiburg 1990, pp. 78-84
- Ruth Grönwoldt: Embroidery from prehistory to the present . Hirmer, Munich 1993, pp. 217–219 (on Württemberg)
- Irmgard Gierl: The most beautiful embroidery patterns from ancient times . Rosenheim 1993, pp. 6-15
- Embroidery samplers . Catalog of the exhibition 1979 Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt am Main
- Ulrike Zischka: Sampler from the Museum of German Folklore . 2nd edition, Mann, Berlin 1979
- Samples from the collection of the Altona Museum . Exhibition catalog of the Altonaer Museum in Hamburg, North German State Museum, Hamburg 1975