Sampler, 1808, Nancy Sibley, American, 17 7/8 x 15 3/8 in. (45.4 x 39.05 cm), Silk thread, metal-wrapped thread, painted linen, and painted paper on linen plain weave; needlework, United States, 19th century, From the colonial period to the mid nineteenth-century, sampler making formed a major component of polite education for young girls. Needlework samplers demonstrated the artistic achievements of students, chief among them being a range of delicate stitch techniques. This sampler records the skills of its ten-year-old maker in handling a dozen embroidery stitches, her abilities working with metallic thread (a challenging medium for the novice), as well as her competence in painting on cloth and applied paper.