Art Institute of Chicago

Central Medallion Quilt with "Yankee Puzzle" or "Hour Glass" Borders

Mary Jones (American, active late 18th/early 19th century)

Date

Central medallion embroidered 1795; pieced and quilted about 1750-1810

Medium

Center: cotton, plain weave; embroidered with silk, cotton, and wool in buttonhole, chain, cross, single cross, feather, Roumanian, satin, single satin, stem, and twined double running stitches. Squares: cotton, cotton and linen, and linen, plain weaves; block, copperplate, and roller printed

Culture

United States

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This bedcover includes an embroidered center square and over 30 different English and French printed cottons ranging in date from about 1780 to 1810. Because the United States’ commercial textile industry was in its infancy during the late 18th century, there was a great dependency on foreign textiles. The center of the bedcover was embroidered in 1795 while printed cotton fabrics were pieced together at a later date. This bedcover represents decades of careful saving of fashionable imported printed cotton dress and furnishing fabrics.

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