Artifacts Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
1984.002.010 |
Object Name |
Sampler |
Other Name |
navneduk |
Description |
Sample with alphabet and number stitched. This sample was made by the donor in primary school in Norway, between approximately 1908 and 1912. Such samples were called navneklud (Danish), navneduk (Norwegian), or namnduk (Swedish), all translating to "name cloth." These sample demonstrate practical and decorative needlework, knitting stitches, and cross-stitch embroidery taught in Nordic homes and schools in the late nineteenth and early twenieth centuries. As examples of girlhood embroidery, they reflect the unique needlework traditions of the sewer's country, as well as shared cultural roots and the influence of shared neighbors. Since some letters were similar in appearance they were often used interchangeably (e.g., I/J and U/V). However, we must remember that young hands stitched what we know today as "school girl samplers" and mistakes were common. Also, depending on where the young girl lived, many letters may be omitted due to her nationality and the alphabet they wrote. Simple samplers executed by the youngest girls, ages 5-8, were called markers, and consisted of an alphabet and the numbers 1 - 10, often stitched within a border of geometric figures. This exercise not only taught the child her letters and numbers, but also taught her how to stitch letters onto cloth, a practical skill since family names were often stitched into clothing as well as on other household linens. Older girls made more elaborate samplers, which included embroidered pictures of animals, flowers, geometric shapes, stylized urns and houses, and human figures. Some contained verses and sayings on love, death, friendship, and family. |
Artisan |
Nilsen, Esther (Lund) |
Dimensions |
W-24.13 L-24.13 cm |