Embroidery

NameEmbroidery

Maker Policarpio Valencia

CultureHispano

Date1925

Place madeSanta Cruz, New Mexico, United States, North America

MediumWool, cotton

Dimensions55 7/8 × 63 3/4 in. (142 × 162 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mary Cabot Wheelwright, gift of Historical Society of New Mexico, Museum of International Folk Art (A5.2004.1)

Object numberA5.2004.1

Collections

Rio Grande Textiles

ProvenanceMary Cabot Wheelwright purchased this embroidery in Taos around 1932 and published a note about it in The Bulletin of The Needle and Bobbin Club. She described it as a “sampler,” comparing it to an embroidery tradition more familiar to her Boston upbringing. She wrote, “It is the most human and kindly text of any sampler that I know, curiously different from the pious and gloomy New England type.” In the early 1930s, she donated it to the Historical Society of New Mexico, and it was displayed for many years at the Palace of the Governors. When the Museum of International Folk Art opened in 1953, it was transferred to MOIFA’s collection.

DescriptionFor this embroidery, Valencia repurposed a commercial trade blanket with a double-faced weave in which the pattern repeats on both sides, but the colors are reversed. He used the blanket stripes to organize his stitched figures, floral shapes, and lines of text. He also drew inspiration from the woven design, tracing and stylistically adapting the Maltese Cross and four-leaf motifs.

During Valencia’s lifetime, as the nation’s borders expanded across the continent, the Southwest became increasingly interconnected with the United States. While this development altered local cultures, the growing awareness of Southwestern artistic traditions also influenced what was being woven in East and West Coast factories for nationwide trade. Valencia may have been attracted to this imported blanket because it included design elements he recognized and appreciated, such as the Maltese cross, a symbol with important significance to local Catholic tradition. Valencia would have been familiar with this motif, having seen it every time he walked through the doors of the Santa Cruz de la Cañada Church (now Holy Cross Church).

Transcription:
April 2, 1925, I started putting white thread on this blanket on
which you will see a certain collection
of animals, some of which are already rare for our times and
others which [still] exist now
for domestic use, but I have pictured those animals here to be
remembered. Those
[animals] that served mankind in the past were the buffalo, the
horse, the donkey,
the mule and the ox, the sheep and goat, the bison (with its meat
that sustained the people). The donkey
the mule, carrying loads of commercial goods on its back to trade,
traveling over long distances and over mountains. They were
mishandled or mistreated with a whip. The ox pulling
in front with a pole tied to its horns. This was a yoke. Two [oxen]
were bound to the yoke, and they
were driven with a cattle prod. This was a pointed stick. The man
on his horse, with his courage and a lance in his
hand, made use of the buffalo. And the sheep and the goat, with
their hair and hide, they would clothe their masters, and, with their
meat and milk, fed the people.
August 20, 1925, these blue letters give you the names of animals
depicted
on this blanket. By paying close attention, you will fi nd bison,
bears, wolves,
deer, pronghorn, lion, birds, camel, pig, coyotes, foxes, skunks,
cattle, oxen, calves,
donkeys, mule hybrid, sheep, and goats. Also plow and winnowing
screen, handbarrow, implements used in earlier times.
stag, doe, pronghorn buck, pronghorn doe, donkey, cow, pig,
female donkey, little donkey
winnowing screen
plow
cattle prod
handbarrow
bison, wolf, nanny goat, billy goat, sheep, hens
she-mule, little lamb, ox, lion, bear, camel, little mule, donkey,
coyote, cow, calf, he-mule
Policarpio Valencia

Transcripción:
Abril 2 del año de 1925[,] comencé a poner hilo blanco en esta
cobija en la cual verá ud cierta coleción
de animales[,] de los cuales ya barios son raros en esta época y
otros esisten ahora
en uso doméstico[,] pero llo he fi gurado ayi animales para
recuerdo fotoro[.] Los
que prestaron serbisio al hombre anteriormente fueron el síbolo[,]
el caballo[,] el buro[,]
la mula y el buey[,] y la borrega y cabra[,] el sibolo con su carne
surtia la nasion. El buro[,]
la mula[,] con carga en el espinaso cambiando objetos comerciales
de distansia
muy larga y por sieras caminaban[.] Y manejados o tratados mal
con garote[.] Y el bu[e]y jalando
primero con un palo atado a los cuernos[.] Era llugo[.] Dos
priendian al lluso[,] y les
picaban con un topil[.] Era una bara puntiada[.] El hombre en el
caballo[,] con su balor y una lansa en su
mano[,] asi a uso del sibolo[.] Y la borega y la cabra[,] con su
pelo y cuero[,] y vestian a sus amos y con su carne y leches[,] se
alimenta la nasion[.]
Agosto 10 de 1925[,] esta letra asul le da a ud los nombres de
animales que se allan fi gurados
en esta cobija[.] Poniendo buen cuidado[,] allaran sibolo[,]
osos[,] lobos[,] bennados[,]
berendos[,] lion[,] abes[,] camello[,] serdo[,] collotes[,]
soras[,] sorio[,] bacas[,] buelles[,] beseros[,]
buros[,] bestias mulares[,] boregas[,] y cabras[.] Tambien arado y
criba[,] pariguela[,] material que se usaba antes[.]
benado[,] benada[,] verendo[,] berenda[,] buro[,] vaca[,] serdo[,]
vuba[,] vurito
criba
arado
topil
pariguela
sibolo[,] lobo[,] cabra[,] cabromeso[,] vereda[,] gayinas
mula[,] boregito[,] vuelle[,] lion[,] oso[,] camello[,] machito[,]
buro[,] collote[,] vaca[,] vesero[,] macho
Policarpio Valencia