Marguerite Maguire graciously donated three East Asian items to the Museum. The child's embroidery sampler is from Japan or Korea, circa 1950. The writing on the top of the sampler has been translated as "France Embroidery Fundamental Sew Model". The document case is from Korea, circa 1950, and made from plant fibers and lacquer.
The stencil is probably made from mulberry paper and waterproofed with persimmon tannin so that it can be used many times. A special adhesive was used to attach the stencil to fabric that would come off when washed. The stencil design was hand cut with small knives or punches. Stencils were usually reinforced with silk strands. Small strands can be seen over the punched holes in this sample.
"Register marks" can be found in each corner on this stencil. They were used as place markers, allowing the designer to continue the pattern by matching up the marks on the stencil to the marks just painted.
Learn more: East Asian artifacts 2005.02
Most of the artifacts in New Acquisitions articles are chosen to allow website visitors to explore artifacts that are not on display in the Museum's galleries. Try searching the database or exploring the Virtual Tour to find artifacts on display.