Sun Dec 29, 2019 04:21 PM

In the song, the 5th day of Christmas is 5 gold rings. I considered picking some of the patterns aimed at goldsmiths, but since I spent my day doing laundry, it didn’t seem quite right. Laundry got me thinking of laundry marks and the later use of samplers for alphabet patterns. So, I pulled an alphabet from Nicolo Zoppino’s 1529 _ Esemplario di lavori_. I’ve also included a couple of patterns similar to those used on this sampler from the same book. The sampler, NT 597694, is dated between 1630-1700 and is part of the Goodhart Sampler Collection at Montacute House. I picked it just because it was slightly whimsical with a unicorn and a mermaid.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/349352

http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/597694