Echo por las manos de Maria sampler, unknown maker from Guatemala

The embroidered inscription reads:

ECHO POR /LASMANOS / DE LA MA / RIA J.S.

Sallie Casey Thayer paid particular attention to textiles while developing her expansive art collection. In part, she sought to inspire contemporary design by providing diverse examples of production from different cultures and time periods. More personally, some works also served as memorabilia from her travels. It is likely that she purchased this sampler during a 1916 trip to Guatemala.

Derived from the Latin word for “example,” a “sampler” is a piece of embroidered or cross-stitched fabric, produced to demonstrate or test an individual’s skill in needlework. Although they have a long and varied history, during the 18th and 19th centuries, wealthy girls from affluent families in Europe and the Americas would often create samplers as educational exercises. Samplers demonstrated a young woman’s academic, industrial, and virtuous accomplishments. They served to reveal her family’s values to society and, particularly, to potential suitors. This sampler by Maria J.S. reveals its maker’s impressive needlework skills, displaying a wide range of patterns, techniques, and other decorative elements.

What can you learn about Maria by looking at this sampler?

How old do you think she was when she made it?

What colors did she like?

What might have interested her or sparked her imagination?

If you made a sampler, what would you like it to show about you? Would you include specific decorations? A particular text? Your name and age? A dedication to someone special?

How might your sampler reveal things not only about you, but about where you live and the time period in which you live?