Appliquéd Quilt Square

Dateca. 1849

OriginAmerica, Georgia or South Carolina

MediumPlain and printed cottons

Dimensions14 3/8 x 14 3/8"

Credit LineGift of Ms. Jane Miller Wright.

Object number2002-73,9

DescriptionThis is an appliqued quilt block or square worked in the "Broiderie Perse atyle", appliqued with chintz fabric. The design consists of a circular wreath of roses and lotus blossoms framing a poem. The poem, hand-penned reads as follows:

"Beware what earth calls happiness; beware
All joys, but joys that never can expire;
Who builds on life(?) than an immortal base,
Fond as he seems, condemns his joy to death".

The colors consist of reds, greens, and white. The square is hemmed.
Label TextThis is one of twenty-five quilt blocks, which were cut out and appliquéd from floral and bird printed cottons and intended to be a finished album quilt. The edges of the appliquéd motifs were turned to the reverse and slip-stitched in place. Probably made by a group of friends and/or relatives, the squares carry inked dates of 1848, 1849, and 1850 and signatures with the names of men and women from families that were concentrated primarily in Aiken County, South Carolina, and Richmond County, Georgia, located adjacent to each other on the state border. Place names include “B. Island” (probably Beech Island, South Carolina), “Augusta, Ga.,” “Milledgeville, Georgia,” and “Charleston, South Car.” The exact relationships among all the signers of the quilt squares are unknown, though some are siblings. The squares descended in the Clarke family.
Inscribed"Beware what earth calls happiness; beware
All joys, but joys that never can expire;
Who builds on life(?) than an immortal base,
Fond as he seems, condemns his joy to death".
MarkingsMarked in pencil on reverse of square is the number "19".
ProvenanceThis is one of twenty-five quilt squares probably intended, if completed, as an album quilt for Mary B. Clarke before her marriage to David H. Porter in 1855. According to her great-granddaughter, Mary was the daughter of Samuel Clarke and the sister of Caroline and Sarah Clarke, whose names appear on the quilt squares. The quilt squares along with a casket engraved “Daisy” descended through the family line of Mary’s daughter Jane (b. ca. 1861). Daisy (b. ca. 1866) was one of Jane’s younger sisters. The squares descended in the Clarke family until they were given to Colonial Williamsburg in 2002.