Woven Tied Beiderwand Coverlet by Unknown Maker

Date1847

MediumRed, dark blue, and mustard yellow wools with white cotton and a light blue supplementary thread of cotton.

Dimensions86 x 83 1/2" (218.4 cm. x 212.1 cm.) excluding lower fringe of 4" and side fringes of 3".

Credit LineGift of Mr. & Mrs. Foster McCarl, Jr.

Object number1986.609.9

DescriptionThis is a single-woven coverlet of tied beiderwand construction; center-seamed; self-fringed at bottom and sides; with a turned-over hem at top. It has dark blue, red, and mustard yellow wools with white cotton and a light blue supplementary thread of cotton. The side and bottom borders are the same design, and all are doubled: a five-bay steepled building alternates with a large, crotched flowering branch. The quadrupled corner block is a spray with a rose bud and full-blown rose bloom, plus other smaller flowers, the motif appearing four times (in accord with the doubling of the side and lower borders). The interior is an overall repeat of the corner block motif.
On the reverse (orienting front and reverse by top hemming) in lower border at left and worked in cross-stich in dark blue wool is "Mary A. BeatY 1847."
Label TextA narrow border design was often doubled or tripled by the weaver to create a deeper visual edging ad a larger cover. The multiple borders shown here feature a steppled building appealingly framed by arched leafy branches. On the reverse in cross-stitch is worked the name "Mary A. Beaty 1847."
MarkingsOn the reverse (orienting front and reverse by top hemming) in lower border at left and worked in cross-stich in dark blue wool is "Mary A. BeatY 1847."
ProvenanceThe original owner may have been Mary A. Beaty whose name is cross-stitched in dark blue wool on the reverse in the lower border.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Foster McCarl, Jr., Beaver Falls, Pa.