Pieced and Appliqued Table Cover or Rug

Date1850-1875

OriginAmerica, Mid-Atlantic or New England (probably)

MediumWool, wool-cotton blends, wool embroidery threads and cording

Dimensions63 x 41 inches (160 x 104.1 cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1976.603.1

DescriptionThis is a rectangular table cover or floor rug pieced together from a variety of woolen scraps, with the addition of embroidery and tiered rosettes. The design consists of repeated diamond shapes in brown, beige, blue, red-orange, and black. Each of the smaller interior diamonds is supplemented by a wreath-like design of wool embroidery in blue and two shades of gold. The larger triangles have small rosettes sewn to their surfaces. Each rosette is assembled from four layers of wool, decreasing in size. A piece of cording has been run around the edge between the edge and the scalloped border. It is not backed.
Label Text"Penny" rugs and table covers were popular in the late nineteenth century, their name deriving from a repetitive appliqued motif of stacked concentric circles of fabric resembling coins. The stacked, cogged circles of fabric in this example are related in technique, but the object's block format and its embroidered details suggest a date closer to the middle of the nineteenth century.
ProvenanceGeorge Schoellkopf, New York, NY.