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Quilt, Pieced and Appliquéd Sunburst Quilt with Fringe

Date1840-1850

Maker Mary Ann McPherson (1809-1901)

OriginAmerica, Maryland, Charles County

MediumPlain and printed cottons with linen fringe (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsOverall: OH: 101 × OW: 99 × 5in. (256.5 × 251.5 × 12.7cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2021.609.3

DescriptionThis is a rectangular pieced and appliqued quilt consisting of four large pieced eight-pointed stars or sunbursts in blue, brown, and pink printed cottons. Each sunburst contains 288 individually cut and precisely pieced diamonds. The diamonds measure 1 1/4" x 3 1/8". A center square medallion is filled with an appliquéd wreath of tulip-like flowers, leaves, and vine in red and green cottons. Appliquéd tulip-like flower sprigs, carnation flower sprigs, and bud and leaf sprigs in red and green cottons fill the areas void of the pieced stars. There is an inner and outer sawtooth border in red and green printed cottons.
A label stitched to the quilt in the lower left corner reads: "Sunburst quilt / Made one hundred and / fifty years ago by / Mrs. Mary MacPherson / Property of / Jane V. MacPherson / 1st prize 50c C. M. C."
"Jane Virginia MacPherson" is inked in the lower left corner.
The quilt has a five-inch linen fringe, which is applied to the top, on all four sides. It is quilted in 8-11 running stitches per inch in outline, tulips, daisies, leaves, grapevines, and diagonal lines patterns. The top fabric is taken to the back and folded under to create an edge finish. It is backed in three panels of plain white cotton, each about 32" wide.
Label TextMary Ann McPherson's "Sunburst" quilt is skillfully pieced and appliquéd, as well as finely quilted in intricate florals, vines, and diagonal lines. Adding to the quilt's beauty is a five-inch handwoven linen fringe attached to all four sides. The combined color schemes of red/green and blue/brown/pink is found on other Maryland quilts created in the 1840s and 1850s.
Mary Ann was raised at Greenway, a tobacco plantation near Pomonkey, Charles County, Maryland. Enslaved people who worked in the home and fields undoubtedly provided Mary and her six siblings a comfortable lifestyle, one that gave her the leisure time to create quilts. Two of Mary Ann's quilts have survived and are now in the Colonial Williamsburg collection.
InscribedThere is a label stitched to the quilt in the lower left corner: "Sunburst quilt / Made one hundred and / fifty years ago by / Mrs. Mary MacPherson / Property of / Jane V. MacPherson / 1st prize 50c C. M. C."

"Jane Virginia MacPherson" is inked in the lower left corner.
ProvenanceProvenance and History of Quilt Maker
Mary Ann McPherson (1809-1901) was the oldest daughter of Thomas and Jane Benson McPherson who married in 1808. She was raised at Greenway, a tobacco plantation near Pomonkey, Charles County, Maryland. Enslaved people who worked in the home and fields undoubtedly provided Mary and her six siblings a comfortable lifestyle, one that gave her the leisure time to create at least three quilts. Two of Mary Ann's quilts have survived and are now in the Colonial Williamsburg collection. Mary Ann never married and after the death of her father, she and her four maiden sisters lived with her brother, William Benjamin Benson McPherson, in the family home. Her father's will left Mary Ann and her sisters equal shares of enslaved people, livestock, and bedding. Mary Ann received six enslaved people, horses, cows, sheep, hogs, two bedsteads with bedding, a carpet, and manure forks. She lived a long life and is buried at St. John's Episcopal Church. Mary Ann's quilts descended through her brother's family line to his granddaughter, Jane Virginia McPherson Burton, who was a school teacher. Jane had no children and sold the quilts to Susan Duvall Smith, an antiques dealer. The quilts then went to Susan's daughter, Mary Lucille Smith Spiller, who owned the quilts in 1995.