In their earliest form, samplers were put together as personal reference works for embroiderers. They were trials of patterns and stitches that had been copied from others, and records of particular effects achieved that could be recreated again. They would have been the work, not of children, but of more experienced embroiderers, and, to judge from the quality of samplers like this one, of professionals too. Such stitch and pattern collections may have been assembled in any community in which embroidery for decorative effect was widely practised; our knowledge of early examples depends on the few pieces to have survived. This is one of the earliest examples in the Museum's collection, which was found in an Egyptian burial ground.