Quilt, Appliquéd and Pieced Virginia

Date1820-1830

Artist/Maker Mary "Polly" Abney Kenney

MediumMulticolor block- and roller-printed cottons with penciling on pattern-woven white cotton ground,; white cotton backing; woven and knotted cotton fringe; cotton and linen embroidery threads; and cotton quilting thread

Dimensions101 1/2" x 90" (273 x 244 cm) not including 3" fringe on three sides; fringe at top of quilt only 5" in on both sides.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1987-763

DescriptionThis is a rectangular appliqued and pieced quilt with multicolor block-printed linens and cottons with penciling on a ground made up of two different white cotton pattern-woven grounds. It is in a framed center medallion on point format, which consists of an eight-point chintz-work star set within two closely spaced concentric squares on point and surrounded by seven concentric square borders. The chintz patches are appliquéd in blue and white cotton and linen buttonhole stitches, and the bedcover is quilted in 9 white cotton running stitches per inch in grid and clamshell patterns. The quilt is finished at bottom and sides in a three inch deep cotton fringe that extends at top five inches in. The cotton backing is brought to the front to form a narrow edge finish where there is no fringe.

Label TextThis framed center-medallion quilt consists of an eight-pointed chintzwork star set within two closely spaced concentric squares on point and surrounded by seven concentric square borders. The quilt is made of multicolor block- and roller-printed cottons on an unusual ground consisting of two different pattern-woven white cotton fabrics and a plain cotton fabric. The chintz patches are appliquéd in cotton and linen buttonhole stitches, and the bedcover is quilted in cotton running stitches in clamshell and grid patterns. The cotton fringe is woven and knotted. Note that the quilt maker did not waste her work by putting the fringe where it would not be seen; the top of the quilt would have been hidden by a bolster and pillows.
The quilt descended in the Abney family of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in a home called Solitude in the Staunton area of Augusta County. A family treasure, it was lovingly referred to as “The Quilt” and thought to have been created by Polly Abney Kinney.
ProvenanceMade by Mary "Polly" Abney Kenney of Staunton, Augusta County, Virginia.
By descent to her brother, William Abney (1772-1828);
By descent to his son, William Augustine Abney (b. 1806);
By descent to his son, Ulysses Van Buren Abney (b. 1836);
By descent to his daughter, Mary Bledsoe Abney (1861-bef 1894);
By descent to her son, John Abney Clarkson (b. 1886)
By descent to his daughter Mary Abney Clarkson Smith (1914-1997);
Sold to CWF through Terri McSweeney, 1987.

History of Maker:

Mary Abney was the daughter of John Abney (1745-1788) and Isabella Van Lear (born ca. 1751). Mary was most likely born in Augusta County. In 1824, she married Robert Kenney, the son of Robert Kenney (1743-1806) and Phoeba/Phoebe Houston (1748-1804).