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Collections

Catarina
Sampler (Dechado)circa 1785

Not on view
Vertical embroidered sampler on cream linen, with three horizontal registers: scattered birds, animals, and floral motifs above; a grid of small geometric pattern samples in the middle; and large cross-stitch panels in red and green below.
Embroidered sampler on linen ground, featuring a grid of rectangular panels each demonstrating a different needlework stitch pattern in red, blue, green, and yellow threads; upper portion includes openwork cutwork panels with lace-like geometric designs; lower edge shows floral and figural motifs in naturalistic embroidery.
Embroidered textile on cream linen ground, densely worked in silk thread with scattered motifs including birds, insects, fantastical creatures, and flowers. Central medallion framed by green scrolling acanthus encloses a crowned mermaid figure in blue and brown. Surrounding vignettes feature a striped bee, parrots, winged figures, a sun, and floral sprays in yellow, blue, green, and black.
Artist or Maker
Catarina
Title
Sampler (Dechado)
Place Made
Mexico
Date Made
circa 1785
Medium
Linen plain weave with silk and metallic-thread embroidery, drawn work, and needle lace
Dimensions
39 1/4 × 23 1/4 in. (99.7 × 59.1 cm)
Credit Line
Costume Council Fund
Accession Number
M.82.105.2
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. This is one of the two earliest known Mexican samplers. The inclusion of a roundel with the Immaculate Conception suggests it was made in a convent school. It also includes a pelican feeding its young, a symbol of the Eucharist, as well as embroidered images of the sun, moon, and stars—motifs associated with the Immaculate Conception— among other whimsical details.


From exhibition Archive of the World, 2022 (for more information see the catalogue entry by Alejandra Mayela Flores Enríquez in the accompanying publication, cat. no. 93, pp. 346–50)

Provenance
Abell Auction Company, Commerce, California, 1982; Douglas Morse, Pasadena, California, 1982; Loewi-Robertson Inc., Los Angeles, 1982; LACMA, 1982.
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.
Selected Exhibition History
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024