Images(5)

Quilt, Appliquéd Maryland Album

Dateca. 1856

Artist/Maker Eve Danner (1811-1883)

Artist/Maker Deborah Ecker Danner (1819-1876)

Artist/Maker Julia E. Danner (1825-1907)

OriginAmerica, Maryland, Frederick County

MediumPrinted and plain cottons with inked details and wool, silk, and cotton embroidery threads

DimensionsOH 97" x OW 95 5/8" (242 x 246 cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1979.609.15

DescriptionThis is an appliquéd quilt consisting of sixteen blocks arranged in four rows of four blocks, enclosed in a grapevine border on all four sides. The blocks are separated by bars or sashing of red, white, and blue fabric; eight-pointed stars mark corner junctions of outer bands. Red, blue, and white bands form the outer edges. In addition to sprigs and wreaths of flowers, the quilt blocks include a cornucopia of flowers, the Masonic emblems of a compass and square, a flowering Christmas cactus, and an opened book with inked verse from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 12:1. The inscription is signed and dated "Julia A Danner/Feb 14th/1856."

The top ground consists of pieced sections of plain weave white cotton. The backing consists of six pieced sections of plain weave white cotton whose selvages, where intact, measure 29 1/2". The backing is brought over the front and turned under along the edges to form a narrow 1/8 - 3/16" binding. The fabrics used in the quilt include both solids and prints; some of these are glazed. All but one block (that showing the cactus) include details embroidered in wool, as does the grapevine border. Some blocks include details of cotton and silk embroidery as well. Some appliqués consist of printed motifs that were cut out and stitched on in so-called "broderie perse" technique. The appliquéd motifs are attached with slipstitch and blanket stitches. Some blocks have layered appliqué and underlaid or reverse appliqué.

Hand-quilting: About nine to twelve stitches per inch in small squares set on the diagonal through the interior of the quilt. These quilting stitches generally cover the appliqués but, in a few instances, stop short of them. Outline stitches (and stitches forming leaf veins) were used to quilt the grapevine border. The outermost border is quilted in diagonal parallel lines varying, in different sections, from 1/4" to 1" apart.

Decorative stitching: blanket or buttonhole, chain or split, knots, overcast, outline
Label TextIn addition to sprigs and wreaths of flowers, the quilt blocks in this example include a cornucopia, the Masonic emblem of a compass and square, birds, and a flowering cactus. The cactus plant became popular in America as a result of the U. S.-Mexican War from 1846 to 1848. The open Bible is inked with a verse from Ecclesiastes 12:1: "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt salt [sic] say, I have no pleasure in them." Most blocks include fine details embroidered in wool or cotton, as does the grapevine border. Some blocks also include appliquéd motifs stitched with open buttonhole stitches around the edges. The quilting is done with 9 to 12 running stitches per inch.

This album quilt descended in the Danner family of Maryland and is believed to have been made by three sisters-in-law, two of whom were living in the same household at the time. One of the blocks is signed and dated in ink "Julia A Danner/Feb 14th/1856." Julia Engel had married Henry Danner in 1853, three years before the date on the quilt. She gave birth to her first child less than two months after she signed and dated the quilt. Her sister-in-law Deborah Ecker had married Daniel Danner in 1838. Eve Danner, the men's sister, married late, and was a single woman living with Daniel and Deborah when the quilt was being made. Census records show that she was living with them from at least 1850 through 1860. Eve married George Washington Dudderar sometime after 1860, but she was widowed and living with her other brother Henry and his wife Julia by 1880.
InscribedIn script in ink over the pages of an open, ink-drawn book in block 14: "Remember now thy/Creator in the days/of thy youth, while/ the evil days come/ not, nor the years/ draw nigh, when thou/ shalt salt [sic] say, I have/ no pleasure in them;." Below the book in ink is "Julia A Danner/ Feb 14th / 1856."
MarkingsSee signatures and inscriptions.
ProvenanceThe quilt descended from Deborah Ecker Danner to her son Edward Delevan Danner; to his son Edward Lindsay Danner; to his daughter Mary Danner Dudderar, of Unionville, Maryland.
History of quilt makers:
Deborah Ecker Danner (1801-1876), Eve Danner Dudderar (1811-1883), and Julia Engel Danner (1825-1907) (sisters-in-law)
These three quilt-makers were related by marriage, two of Eve Danner Dudderar's brothers (Daniel Danner [1801-1876] and Henry Danner [1821-1907] having married Deborah Ecker and Julia Engel, respectively. Deborah and Daniel wed in 1838, Julia and Henry in 1853. The year Eve became the second wife of George Washington Dudderar (1810-1876) is unknown, but since Dudderar's first wife died in 1863, the event must have succeeded completion of this ca. 1856 quilt by several years.
Julie and Henry Danner lived on "Wilderness Farm" near Lisbon in Howard County, Maryland. On April 1, 1856, Eve, Deborah, and Daniel Danner moved to nearby Unionville in Frederick County, Maryland, having first lived in Oak Orchard (whose exact location in Maryland has not been noted). All of Deborah's and Daniel’s children died before the move to Unionville except their eldest son, Edward Delevan Danner (b. 1839). Eve and George W. Dudderar lived in the Unionville area as well.
At least one other quilt is attributed to Julia Danner by a descendant: a now unlocated double Irish Chain pieced quilt with a chintz border.
(Information is from the source of the quilt.)

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