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D2007-CMD-0144
Counterpane, White Embroidery
D2007-CMD-0144

Counterpane, White Embroidery

Date1832 (dated)
Maker Martha Ann Garrison Tarrant (1810 - 1858)
OriginAmerica, South Carolina, Piedmont
MediumCotton embroidered with cotton; silk (?) embroidery thread; cotton knitted and woven fringe
DimensionsOW: 87" x OH: 91" with fringe
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund
Object number2007-27
DescriptionThis is a white plain-woven cotton coverlet embroidered with heavy white cotton, so-called "candlewick," and edged on three sides with knitted lace and woven fringe. The design consists of a central basket of flowers, grapes, and leaves on crossing and meandering stems. Beneath central flower is the cross-stitch signature: "MARTHA AN[?]. GARRISON./ [ILLEGIBLE]/ OCTOBER 2 1832/ X". The borders feature baskets of flowers, cornucopia, and eagles, positioned as follows: center bottom border--small basket of flowers; two bottom corners--cornucopia with meandering flowers; and side borders--one spread eagle on either side. The top corners of the coverlet are filled with small baskets of flowers growing down toward the middle.

Stitches: bullion, detached buttonhole, stem, and running
Label TextThis bed coverlet is embroidered in heavy white cotton threads, so-called "candlewick" because the diameter of the cotton threads is similar to that of a candlewick. It is edged on three sides in a knitted lace and woven fringe. The maker dated and signed the coverlet beneath the central basket of flowers, grapes, and leaves. The large outer border features baskets of flowers, cornucopia, and eagles. Cut tufts give the American eagles added emphasis. Their eyes pierce us with their sharp gaze created by small cuts in the cotton ground.

Shortly after completing the bedcovering, Martha Ann Garrison married William Walton Tarrant in 1833. The coverlet descended in the maker's family, where it was never far from home.

ProvenanceThe embroidered counterpane descended from the maker, Martha Ann Garrison (1810-1858), to her youngest daughter, Nancy Jane (1851/52-1947) who married John Green Payne (1850-1922), to their son James H. Payne (1887-1964) and wife Blanche Peden Payne (1893-1992), to their daughter, Margaret Payne (b. 1925).

Counterpane Maker:
Born in 1810, Martha Ann Garrison was the daughter of Charles Garrison of Greenville County, South Carolina. In 1833 she married William Walton Tarrant, also of Greenville County. They had ten children: Cornelia (1834-1915); Henrietta P. (1836-1850); William Walton Tarrant (1837-1877); James Agustas (1838-1916); Frances Elizabeth (1841-1922); Mary Marie (1843-1889); Columbus B. (1845-1928); John (1848-1876); Susan M. (1851-1925); and Nancy Jane (1852-1947). Martha Ann Garrison Tarrant died at the age 47 on April 3, 1858, and is buried in the Garrison-Tarrant Cemetery in Greenville County, South Carolina.