From their first appearance in Germany in the early sixteenth century, pattern books were an important design source for needlework.  As a result of their widespread popularity, it is not unusual to find similarities amongst samplers of the same period and country of origin.  The cluster of buildings with a church (at the lower right) and the fountain topped with a long-tailed bird (at the right side) are almost identical to those in a German sampler dated 1692 in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  Motifs such as these might be used over a long period of time due to their continued illustration in pattern books by successive publishers.

Provenance:  Ex Collection - Emma-Henriette Schiff von Suvero (nee Emma Reitzes, July 24, 1873 - January 8, 1939); restituted to the family in 2003, formerly in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Austria.