Images(7)

Quilt, Appliquéd Oak Leaf

Dateca. 1850

Maker Unidentifed Maker, "JSAG"

OriginAmerica, Mid-Atlantic

MediumPlain and printed cottons

DimensionsOH: 95 1/2" x OW: 97" Overall: 95 1/2 × 97in. (242.6 × 246.4cm)

Credit LineGift of Arlene Stuven

Object number2021.609.1

DescriptionThis is an almost-square quilt in the "Oak Leaf" pattern employing red and green predominate floral and abstract prints appliqued to a white ground. The quilt is made of 24 whole and 16 half blocks of Oak Leaf set on point without any sashing. Each block measures about 15 3/4 inches along the side. The white running-stitch quilting is worked through very think batting at eight to nine stitches per inch in a pattern of contour quilting around the applique motifs in addition to football-shaped leaves, scallops, and 3/4-inch grids filling in the remaining white spaces. The quilt has a three-inch wide border on all four sides consisting of a neoclassical scroll and medallion print with red and yellow predominating. The initials "JSAG" in quilting stitches appears around mid-way down the side of the quilt front. The quilt is finished by turning the front and back textiles in toward each other and stitching with running stitches close to the outer edge. The backing consists of white plain-woven cotton in three panels measuring approximately 32 inches wide; one of the panels consists of three pieces: a large full-width piece at one end and a sliver on the edge of the opposite end. The backing has a stamp that reads "[indecipherable letter ] J."
Label TextCharacteristic of a number of mid-nineteenth-century American quilts is the red-and-green color scheme of this quilt. In contrast to the work of many album quilt makers, who assembled multiple varied designs for their quilt tops, the unidentified maker of this quilt limited the field of her quilt to the repetition of one motif without intermediate bands of fabric, or sashing. The pattern is often called Oak Leaf.

Art of the Quilter:
The unknown maker or makers of this quilt carefully chose a variety of popular mid-19th-century printed textiles for their design. If you look closely at the oak leaf pattern, most of the quilt blocks match. Can you find the blocks that don't match? The beautiful crimson and yellow boarder probably came from a striped fabric intended for a dress and was cut down into narrow strips to make the border.
MarkingsThe initials "JSAG" in quilting stitches appears around mid-way down the side of the quilt front.
The backing has a stamp that reads "[indecipherable letter ] J."
ProvenanceThe donor has owned the quilt for 25-30 years. She removed it from her mother's home in Lynbrook, New York, when she was moving her mother (Kathryn Schmidt Martin, born in Switzerland). Mrs. Martin said the quilt was made by "Aunt Kate." Unfortunately, the donor could find no "Aunt Kate" in the family and it is speculated that Aunt Kate was an older family friend.