Images(4)

Counterpane, Stenciled

Dateca. 1830

Attributed to Sarah Martin Ball (1815 - 1854)

OriginAmerica, South Carolina, Laurens County

MediumPaint on cotton with cotton fringe

DimensionsOH 87" x OW 75" ( 221 x 190.5 cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2015.609.1

DescriptionThis is a rectangular counterpane consisting of three seamed panels of cotton with cotton fringe on all four sides. Two panels measure 28 3/4" selvage to selvage. A third panel measures 13 1/2" wide. The fringe is 1 7/8" deep. The design is stenciled and free hand-painted. The design consists of a center square medallion containing a two-handled vase of flowering vines and leaves. The center medallion is enclosed by a series of leaf, vine, floral and undulating borders.

Label TextStenciling was one way to add color and pattern to textiles by dabbing or brushing paint through the openings in a cut stencil onto a ground fabric. The stenciled technique was especially popular in the early to mid-nineteenth century in New York and New England. This rare stenciled counterpane created by Sarah Martin Ball of Laurens County, South Carolina, is made of evenly woven cotton that appears to have been locally produced. It is one of possibly two extant stenciled counterpanes identified from the South. The central motif of a tall flowering element seen on Sarah’s counterpane was a popular design on Backcountry textiles and is also found on white and polychrome embroidered bedcovers from the region.
InscribedA handwritten note in blue ink from original family reads:
"Hattie Campbell/ This coverlid was my great/ Grandmother Ball's--every stitch
hand made by her./ She spun the thread, wove the cloth, made the dye and design/ for the stencil. She made the/ fringe and attched it to the/ spread./ 175 years old--".
ProvenanceThe stenciled counterpane descended from the maker, Sarah Martin Ball (1815-1854) Of Laurens County, SC, to her daughter Mahulda Ball Babb (1847-1927) of Laurens County, SC, to her daughter Sallie Catherine Babb Campbell (1871-1940) of Greenville, County, SC, to her daughter Hattie Means Campbell Ashmore (1898-1982 or 92) of Greenville County, SC, to her nephew John Paschal Ashmore, Jr. (1925-1995) to his daughter Mary Fuller Ashmore McGee (1950--), who sold it at auction.

History of Counterpane Maker:
Sarah Martin Ball (born 1815 in Laurens County, SC) was the daughter of John Martin (1789-1833) of Laurens County, South Carolina, and Elizabeth Haney (1789-1850). The Martin (Martiau) family were originally French Huguenots from Virginia. Sarah married John Ball. The 1850 US census lists Sarah Ball, age 35, living with her husband, John Ball, age 29, and three children: Martin Ball, age 12; Lemon Ball, age 7; and Mabulda Ball, age 4. Sarah died in Laurens County, SC, in 1854.