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Woven Doublecloth Coverlet
No image number on slide

Woven Doublecloth Coverlet

Date1844
Artist/Maker J. Hart (active 1844-1851)
OriginAmerica, Ohio, Wilmington
MediumDark blue wool and white cotton
Dimensions93 1/2 x 83" (237.5 cm. x 210.8 cm.)
Credit LineGift of Mr. & Mrs. Foster McCarl, Jr.
Object number1986.609.10
DescriptionThis is a double-woven seamless coverlet of dark blue wool and white cotton with no fringe or top border and a rolled over hem at top. The side and lower borders show an "S" shape behind a bird on a branch over a twining, tightly- scrolled flowering (or fruited) vine over several rows of wavy lines. However, the birds in the side borders all face up, while in the lower border the pattern is worked in paired, mirror-image repeats so that two birds face one another. The interior is an overall repeat of eight-pointed stars with small circles. Woven into each lower corner block is "Be yet to others/kind and true/as youd (sic) have oth/ers be to you/and neither say/or do to them/whate'er you wo/uld not take again/Ohio/ 1844/BY/J HART."
Label TextThe nature of the relationship between J. Hart and Abram Allen (active 1837-1844) is undocumented, but presumably the two men knew one another and perhaps even worked together. Various coverlets bearing the same version of the Gold Rule were signed by each of these weavers, and examples of the foot border pattern shown here appear frequently in Allen's work. One account places Allen's place of business four miles from Wilmington (Clinton County), Ohio, and an 1851 coverlet of Hart's is inscribed with the same place name.
InscribedWoven into each lower corner block is "Be yet to others/kind and true/as youd [sic] have oth/ers be to you/and neither say/or do to them/whate'er you wo/uld not take again/Ohio/ 1844/BY/J HART."
MarkingsWoven into each lower corner block is "Be yet to others/kind and true/as youd [sic] have oth/ers be to you/and neither say/or do to them/whate'er you wo/uld not take again/Ohio/ 1844/BY/J HART."
ProvenanceNo history of ownership prior to donor's is known. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Foster McCarl, Jr., Beaver Falls, Pa.