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Collections

M. Dolores Zea
Sampler (Dechado)1841

Not on view
Vertical needlework sampler, 1841, with three horizontal sections: a pictorial top band with landscape vignettes flanking a Spanish-text cartouche, a central grid of forty pattern squares in varied stitches and earth tones, and a tapestry-like lower band with floral motifs in red, blue, and cream.
Embroidered textile panel on cream silk, depicting a rural landscape scene with a figure leading a loaded mule beside a large tree, white building in background, birds in sky; bordered by a floral embroidered frame of pink and white flowers with green foliage; partially visible decorative cartouche at right with Spanish text in black embroidery.
Embroidered textile sampler on cream fabric with a central cartouche in dark thread and sequins reading 'Por La Señorita M. Dolores Zea, En la Escuela de las SS. Españas, Guatemala, Año de 1841,' flanked by two scenic panels depicting figures in landscapes with trees and animals, surrounded by a floral border with pink and gold needlework flowers.
Embroidered textile, detail showing a pastoral landscape scene with a seated figure, sheep, and a large tree, worked in silk and metallic threads in golden, brown, and cream tones; framed by a floral vine border in pink, green, and gold on a cream ground, with a partial decorative cartouche and Latin script at left edge dated 1841.
Embroidered needlework sampler dated 1841, featuring a grid of squares each worked in a different stitch pattern in muted reds, golds, blues, and tans. Upper border includes floral motifs, figural vignettes, and an oval cartouche with Spanish text reading "Año de 1841." Lower border displays symmetrical foliate and bird motifs in a darker woven band.
Embroidered sampler textile with a grid of squares, each worked in a different stitch pattern including chevrons, cross-hatching, diagonal grids, and horizontal stripes, in red, gold, blue, and tan threads on a natural ground, with a scalloped border at top.
Embroidered textile sampler with a grid of square panels, each displaying a distinct needlework pattern in cream, red, gold, and muted green threads; patterns include diagonal stripes, geometric grids, herringbone, and small repeated motifs, separated by silver-grey stitched borders.
Maker
M. Dolores Zea
Title
Sampler (Dechado)
Place Made
Guatemala
Date Made
1841
Medium
Cotton plain weave with silk and metallic-thread embroidery and metal sequins
Dimensions
30 3/4 × 23 1/2 in. (78.11 × 59.69 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Ronald A. Belkin, Long Beach, California
Accession Number
M.2014.157
Classification
Textiles
Collecting Area
Costume and Textiles
Curatorial Notes

Elaborate embroidered panels such as this, known as samplers, were made by young girls as a compendium of needlework. By the sixteenth century, the tradition was firmly established in Europe. Fine examples were produced in the viceroyalty of Mexico, with some of the earliest extant examples dating to the eighteenth century. This intricate sampler, which was created by M. Dolores Zea in Guatemala in 1841, is stylistically similar to Swedish and Danish works, attesting to the perfection that some techniques produced, particularly drawn thread work.


From exhibition Archive of the World, 2022 (for more information see the catalogue entry by Alejandra Mayela Flores Enríquez in the accompanying publication, cat. nos. 92–93, pp. 346–50)

Selected Bibliography
  • Katzew, Ilona, ed. Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books/D.A.P., 2022.