Immetje

The question was whether the famous Broek in Waterland samplers, typically created by girls around the ages of 10-11, were their only needlework. Was there more? As suspected, there was!

The later work likely involved whitework, a fashionable technique to practice at the time. These pieces are rare, often undated, and rarely signed, leaving us puzzled. They were often mistakenly attributed to the isle of Marken until the whitework sampler by Immetje provided evidence of what followed the 'regular' samplers with bands, texts, etc. Immetje Claesdochter not only signed her sampler but also included a date, 1662, and her age. It was discovered that she was born in 1648 and lived and married in Broek in Waterland. Thank you, Immetje, for signing!

Immetje Claesdochter, out dertien jaer anno 1662. Broek in Waterland, Netherlands. With with beige silk and pulledwork sampler. Silk and linen on fine linen (28 threads per cm). Size: 14 x 37 cm.