Wednesday, February 1, 2012

New (Very Old) Quilt

Whole Cloth Quilt, unknown maker, c. 1790, New England
Look what just arrived! Recently I discovered Live Auctioneers, a web site that facilitates live internet bidding on auctions taking place across the country. This quilt was part of a decorative arts auction held at Pook & Pook in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was made in New England over 220 years ago, and is all wool.

The early American whole cloth quilting tradition has its roots in the western European traditions, particularly the whole cloth quilts made in Great Britain and France. Many of these quilts are made with a glazed "calamanco" wool, most often seen in deep blue. This quilt is an earthy reddish brown color and is made of a worsted wool material that is sometimes called linsey-woolsey. I was pleasantly surprised by the color. The picture accompanying the auction didn't show how rich the color is in person.

Lush, decorative quilting is what makes this quilt sing. The four-pointed star shapes running down the center are made of hearts - click the picture to enlarge it - and the quilt is covered with wavy feather vines, paisley shapes that resemble hearts and butterflies, and elegant parallel line fill.

You can't imagine how pleased I was when I opened the box and saw how great it is. It's always a little risky bidding on things you can't see first in person, but I had a good feeling about this one. To see another interesting early example of a whole cloth quilt, check out my February Quilt of the Month.


11 comments:

  1. Wow Bill! What a treasure and an amazing quilt!!

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  2. I love to see the amazing example of what can be done with hand quilting! Just thinking about the time invloved in planning and marking amazes me! I aspire to that level of skill
    Thanks for sharing it
    Tim

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  3. It's super. Love those early type of feathers with the long lobes and I love how she handled the inside curves of the spines.

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  4. Hearts...love. You can tell a lot of love went into making this quilt. It is beautiful. As you say, and as I can imagine, I know the color and texture have to be incredible in person.

    And, the February quilt...1820...incredibly cool.

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  5. I've been looking at pictures of as many other quilts as I can find, and it seems this one shares the most in common with quilts made around the 1780s. So, it may be a little earlier than I first thought.

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  7. Sorry about that, didn't have my glasses. Anyway the color is amazing and the quilting even more so. What a great win.

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  8. The quilting on this is just amazing. Thank you for sharing it with us. I agree that auction wins are always chancy and so glad you got it and that it was better than expected.

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  9. Why are there so many links to this post from Canton Village Quilt Works???

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  10. Not sure, Mimi. I don't know how the "Links to this post" thing works.

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