Practice, made exact.
A sampler built from repair patterns.
Treijntje van der Kamp made this darning sampler at Amsterdam's Diaconieweeshuis in 1797. Silk embroidery on cotton builds a field of repair patterns.
Colourful stitched crosses and geometric patterns turn the practice of textile repair into an intricate record of needlework.
The selected image is the reverse side of the sampler, so its lettering appears reversed.
Read the grid.
Separate stitched fields let the repair patterns read as a gathered set of demonstrations.
A cotton ground holds silk embroidery in colours that distinguish the patterns.
The selected image makes its orientation explicit: the lettering is reversed because this is the back of the sampler.
Close reading of the credited Met image. Maker, place, date and materials follow the linked collection record.
Maker & source.
- Maker
- Treijntje van der Kamp
- Place / date
- Amsterdam, Netherlands / 1797
- Materials
- Silk embroidery on cotton.Collection record
- Technique
- Darning sampler with stitched crosses and geometric patterns.Collection record and credited image
- Image orientation
- DP363100 is the reverse side of the sampler; lettering appears reversed.Met image record
- Collection
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art. From the Collection of Mrs. Lathrop Colgate Harper, Bequest of Mabel Herbert Harper, 1957
- Accession
- 57.122.150
- Publication
- Public-domain image available under The Met's Open Access policy (CC0). This selected image shows the reverse side, with lettering reversed.