Textile, indigo resist dyed

DateCa. 1766

OriginEngland (probably); used in America, New York

MediumPlain-woven cotton

Dimensions39 1/2" x 114"; repeat 46 1/2"; 40 warps per inch; 44 wefts per inch.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1955-257,2

DescriptionTextile document block-printed and resist-dyed in two shades of indigo blue on white plain-woven cotton in a pattern of large peonies in various stages from buds to full-blown flowers, with large fern-like leaves. Edges include narrow hems and selvages. Pieced across width about halfway up from bottom. An error in placing a block is evident near center of the textile, where part of the design is missing.
Label TextThis textile was once part of yardage used in New York, of which some pieces are at Colonial Williamsburg and others are in the Albany Institute of History and Art. One of the pieces from the yardage has a 1766 British excise stamp and the word “Callicoe” on the bolt end. The cotton ground on which the printing was done probably originated in India; the printing itself may have been done in England.
ProvenanceAccording to the vendor, these pieces were "part of the same lot, same design, same family gift, and same resist" as a textile in the collections of the Albany Institute. (Letter from Constance Williams, Litchfield, Connecticut, to Colonial Williamsburg's curator John Graham, n.d., autumn of 1955.) The pieces were used in southern Columbia County, New York. Almost all the matching and similar surviving examples have been found in the Hudson Valley area.