Images(3)

Quilt or Pillow Cover

Date1725-1750

OriginEngland or Europe, France

MediumLinen and cotton (fiber identification by Textile Lab)

DimensionsOH: 31"; OW: 29 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1952-70

DescriptionThis is a small square layette quilt or pillow sham of white linen quilted with cord quilting and edged with a later cotton ruffle. The central design is mirrored down the vertical axis, and features floral scrolls, leaves, and two exotic birds facing each other. A 4 3/4-inch-wide border is outlined with narrow cables and has a design of foliate scrolls. There is a flower within a circle in each of the four corners, topped by a coronet and flanked by an exotic bird on either side of the coronet. The ruffle, a later addition, is stitched to all four sides and is edged with a zig-zag edge finished with buttonhole stitches. There appear to be remnants of an older linen lining, now missing. The quilting is worked in 15 to 20 backstitches per inch, forming narrow channels through which linen cording has been drawn.
Label TextThis small, quilted panel, possibly once part of a layette or a pillow sham, features exotic birds and floral scrolls outlined with white linen back stitches in a cord-quilting technique. After the channels were stitched, the cords were pulled through the more coarsely woven backing.
ProvenanceGinsburg and Levy, Inc., New York, New York, by sale to Colonial Williamsburg.