Quilt, Pieced Four Patch on Point

Date1835-1850

MediumPlain and printed cottons

DimensionsOH 81 1/2 X OW 70 1/4" (206 x 178 cm)

Credit LineBequest of Grace Hartshorn Westerfield

Object number1974-358

DescriptionThis is a pieced quilt in a design of "four patch on point" with blue-ground floral print between each pieced block. The quilt is pieced from eight-inch squares. The blue-ground print is block-printed in a floral design of roses in madder reds, with penciled blue and yellow and overprinted green leaves. The four-patch blocks are pieced from polychrome roller-printed cottons in small-scale repeated florals and plaids. The quilt is backed in natural-color plain-woven cotton and has a knife-edge finish at the top and sides. The bottom is bound in a folded one-inch twill-woven, brown-striped tape. The bedcover is quilted in 9 running stitches per inch in a pattern of interlocking circles that form an Orange Peel pattern.
Label TextThe unknown maker of this quilt used a simple four-patch design and turned it on point to create diamonds. The quilt is given a sense of lively color through the use of a brilliant lapis blue and pink floral print for the blocks between the patch designs.

Four patch is the simplest of pieced quilt patterns and often was the first block that a young quilter made. Nothing is known of the maker of this quilt.
InscribedNo inscriptions.
MarkingsNo marks.
ProvenanceThe qult is from the estate of Mrs. Jason Westerfield. No further provenance is known.