Quilt fragment (2019.30)

Square fragment of a patchwork bedcover made in the English paper piecing method, each piece of silk being wrapped around a piece of paper and basted on the back before being whipstitched to adjacent pieces. The fragment comprises nine squares, each square containing a central black velvet circle, wavy cherry-red pieces creating a grid radiating from the black circle, and four corner pieces. The corner pieces in each square use two contrasting and alternating fabrics. Most are figured silks (single color, with woven designs), with some plain, solid taffetas; woven stripes and brocades (supplemental threads of different colors creating designs; and one print.

Provenance Narrative This fragment is one block of a seventeenth-century English patchwork bedcover which was taken apart in late 20th century due to its poor overall condition. Its center medallion was sold to a collector and most of the surrounding blocks were acquired by the donor. The center medallion featured a man and a woman in fashionable dress enclosed in a blue silk oval medallion, with the initials SW above them and the date 1697 beneath them.

Place Made England, Probably