Workbag

Datec. 1790

MediumCotton

Dimensions8 3/8" x 7 3/4"

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Mary Ann Elder.

Object number1995-76

DescriptionRectangular drawstring bag hand-made of woodblock-printed floral cotton on mustard ground. Design has leaves and flowers in madder reds and pinks, brown, black and pencil blue with overprint green (blue on yellow), all arranged on a woody stem.
MarkingsPaper tag pinned to bag "BAG OF GLAZED CHINTZ (made from bed curtain material) before 1796."
ProvenanceNote with bag: "(The handwriting of Mary Terry Collins) ... and the chintz bag is a piece of the bed curtains of my Grandfather and mother Coits bed." This was among a group of textiles which were saved and carefully labeled with the history of having been used by the Coit family. Although they are fragmentary, they are excellent examples of eighteenth-century textiles, originally used for bed curtains and gowns, but later serving the function of marking a family's ongoing ‚ tradition and memories.