Crazy Quilt
1884
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Crazy Quilt
1884
Physical Qualities
Silk, including velvet, ribbons, and woven bookmark; silk embroidery threads, metallic threads (copper alloy wrapped around cotton core), oil paint, cotton lining, 62 x 62-3/4 in.
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Amos G. Horney
Object Number
1956.156
The asymmetrical shapes within this crazy quilt, as well as the elegant painted oriental fan, and the ubiquitous embroidered spider and web are clear indications of Japanese influence. Other foreign inspired elements include outline embroideries related to English nursery rhymes and children’s stories. The silk bookmark featuring the Ascension of Jesus Christ is also an English import woven by the firm of Thomas Stevens in Coventry. Although the pattern appears random, a sense of order and containment is imposed
on this quilt by the pieced folding fans at each corner and an “ice cream cone” border. Crazy quilts of the 1880s–1890s were usually too small and fancy for everyday use on a bed. They also lacked the layer of batting technically required to define a quilt. Most were displayed as elegant throws over furniture.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1956; Collection Mrs. Amos G. Horney.
American Crazy Quilts
McMorris,Penny. Crazy Quilts, N.Y.: E.P. Dutton, 1984.
Brick, Cindy. Crazy Quilts:History, Techniques, Embroidery Motifs. Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2008.
Peck, Amelia. American Quilts & Coverlets in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Dutton Studio Books, 1990, pp. 94-97,
p. 191, p. 208.
Safford Carleton L.and Bishop, Robert. America's Quilts and Coverlets, N.Y.: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1972, pp. 296-303.
Houck, Carter. The Quilt Encyclopedia Illustrated, N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1991, pp. 179-178.
Gunn, Virginia. 'Crazy Quilts and Outline Quilts: Popular Responses to the Decorative Art/Art Needlework Movement, 1876-1893,' Uncoverings 1984, Ed. Sally Garoutte, Mill Valley, CA: American Quilt Study Group, 1985, pp. 131-152.
Godden, Geoffrey A.. Stevengraphs and other Victorian Silk Pictures, London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1971, pp. 365-391 bookmarks, especially p. 384, no. 672.
Brick, Cindy. Crazy Quilts:History, Techniques, Embroidery Motifs. Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2008.
Peck, Amelia. American Quilts & Coverlets in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Dutton Studio Books, 1990, pp. 94-97,
p. 191, p. 208.
Safford Carleton L.and Bishop, Robert. America's Quilts and Coverlets, N.Y.: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1972, pp. 296-303.
Houck, Carter. The Quilt Encyclopedia Illustrated, N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1991, pp. 179-178.
Gunn, Virginia. 'Crazy Quilts and Outline Quilts: Popular Responses to the Decorative Art/Art Needlework Movement, 1876-1893,' Uncoverings 1984, Ed. Sally Garoutte, Mill Valley, CA: American Quilt Study Group, 1985, pp. 131-152.
Godden, Geoffrey A.. Stevengraphs and other Victorian Silk Pictures, London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1971, pp. 365-391 bookmarks, especially p. 384, no. 672.
Inscribed: Woven into ribbon or a bookmark (Stevengraph) depicting the ascending Christ;: "The Ascension/ I/Am/the/Resurrection/and/the/Life/saith/the/Lord"
