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1972-89, Coverlet
Counterpane, white, embroidered
1972-89, Coverlet

Counterpane, white, embroidered

Date1780-1820
Artist/Maker Gillie Ellison Edwards
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Pittsville County
MediumCotton embroidery on a cotton ground (fiber identification by textile lab)
DimensionsOverall: (105.75" x 116")"; Side panels: (34.5" x 116"); Middle panel: (36.75" x 116"); Cutouts at foot corners (26" x 25")
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1972-89
DescriptionThis is a white cotton counterpane extending to floor length and composed of three panels. The counterpane has cutouts with twill tape ties for the footposts. There is a wide sewn-on border on three sides of the bed cover. The pattern is formed by an overshot-woven ground decorated with knotted and cut-loop tufted embroidery. The embroidery design includes a floral central medallion, flower decorated swags, bowknots with tasseled fringes, looped outlines and large stars.
Label TextThis bed counterpane, made large enough to hang to the floor, has cut out corners to accommodate the posts of a tall post bedstead. It is embroidered in a pattern clearly inspired by Neoclassical design, with its swags and bowknots forming the border. Needlework using heavy white cotton thread was very popular for decorating bed counterpanes, particularly in the late eighteenth-early nineteenth century. This style of needlework, making liberal use of knots, has been revived today in the form of "candlewicking." The counterpane is said to have been made by Gillie Ellison Edwards of Pittsville County, Virginia.
ProvenanceA related counterpane attributed to the same maker is inscribed: "Cotton grown on the farm of the Edwards family, Pittsville County, Virginia, spun, carded and woven by Gillie Ellison Edwards, granddaughter of Jonathan Edwards, about 1786." The direct provenance is unknown but could potentially be traced through the Edwards lineage as the inscription connects Gilley with the family farm rather than the Gilley's family in Georgia. The given date on the inscription is also dubious as Gilley was born in 1794.
History of Maker: “Gillie Ellison Edwards”, or Gilley Ellyson Edwards was born in 1794 to Flemstead Edwards and Elizabeth Ellyson of Cumberland County, Virginia. She married James Witcher of Pittsylvania County, Virginia in 1813, and the couple would later move to Morgan County, Georgia. Gilley would later appear in the 1850 Federal Census as “Gilla” Witcher of Meriwether County with four children. By the 1860 Federal Census, Gilley was living in the Georgia Militia District 1076 in Polk County with six children. A War of 1812 widower’s pension lists both James Witcher’s death in 1878 and Gilley’s death in 1882 in Polk County.