TRADITIONAL EMBROIDERED SAMPLERS II: JANE BOSTOCKE'S SAMPLER

Jane Bostocke's sampler of 1598, below, is the earliest surviving dated sampler, and one of the best known samplers in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

The inscription commemorates the birth of a child, Alice Lee, in 1596, two years before the date of the sampler. Jane Bostocke was a cousin of Alice Lee, and may have lived in the same household. The inscription reads:

JANE:BOSTOCKE:1598 ALICE:LEE:WAS:BORNE:THE:23:OF:NOVEMBER:BEING:TUESDAY:IN:THE:AFTERNOONE: 1596

The sampler contains both orderly arrangements of rows of border motifs and randomly placed and more diverse motifs, thus marking a transitional stage between band samplers and the later spot samplers.

The motifs and words are stitched in silk and metal threads on linen, and the stitches include cross, satin, chain, back, buttonhole and French knots. Seed pearls and beads are used to enhance the embroidery.

The images below show three details from the sampler. The top image, part of the inscription, shows the use of pearls on some letters of the surname 'Bostocke'; it is likely that pearls were also stitched over the rest of the name, but if this was so they must have worn off over time. The second detail shows black beads as well as pearls on knotwork, while in the third image strawberries and their leaves are contained within an interlaced trellis.

Photo © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The above images were taken with permission from the publication Samplers from the Victoria and Albert Museum, V & A Publications, London, 1999, which is available here.