Dorcas Godman Brashear Harvey
Floral Basket Medallion Quilt with Flying Geese Borders
1834-1844
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Dorcas Godman Brashear Harvey
Floral Basket Medallion Quilt with Flying Geese Borders
1834-1844
Physical Qualities
Cotton, silk embroidery threads, 96 x 89 7/8 in. (243.8 x 228.3 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Marion Farrow Noldt, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Object Number
2007.352
Rectangular bed quilt composed of a square central medallion with appliqued and embroidered flower basket surrounded by sawtooth (or dog tooth) border, set within larger square on point. This square is surrounded by a border of Flying Geese pattern and placed with a larger plain ground rectangle. Six borders surround this medallion center, including:
1. A flying geese border 3-1/4" wide of red ground print
2. An 8" wide border composed of alternating pieced and plain blocks ( 12 plain and 12 pieced blocks-each being composed of one hundred 3/4 inch squares)
3. A second Flying Geese pieced border 3-1/2" wide
4. A plain border 3-3/4" wide with a stuffed work feathered vine
5. A Flying Geese Border 3-3/4" wide
6. A final outer border of printed fabric 3 3/4" at the sides and 5 3/4 to 6 inches at top and bottom.
All borders are squared. All Flying Geese borders have corner blocks with 8 pointed star patterns.
Fabrics used in the quilt top include Turkey red prints and discharge prints, red roller printed toile, an exotic chintz with a lantern-shaped water fountain and exotic birds, a red ground block and roller printed chintz, a dark brown/burgandy ground print with white and red foliage design, and many other printed fabrics of numerous color combinations.
The quilt back is composed of four seamed lengths of plain cotton fabric, in the following widths: 13"/24-3/4"/24-3/4"/24-3/4". The quilt edges are straight and the back is brought over the front and rolled under into a 1/8" binding. There is little batting, except in those areas of stuffed work. Quilting patterns include: Diagonal lines approx. 1/4" apart and outline quilting in the central bouquet, Diagonal quilting and feathered vine with stuffed work in the plain border, concentric rectangles in each of the Flying Geese pieced borders, diagonal lines in the 100 block pieced blocks, floral designs and diagonal lines in the plain blocks and the triangular areas between pieced borders, and chevron quilting within the outermost printed border. All quilting and seaming is by hand using white cotton thread in stitches that vary from 8 to 11 stitches per inch (top only) or 16 to 22 stitches per inch including top and bottom.
Techniques included in this quilt include: Applique, reverse applique, lattic work embroidery, piecing, stuffed work, and quilting.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2007; Marion Farrow Stratton Noldt (1926-2014), Tulsa, OK by descent, 1984; Katharine Watson Farrow (née Farrar 1893-1984) by descent, 1914; Clara Catherine Farrar (nee Harvey (1855-1914)) by descent, 1893; Dorcas Godman Harvey (née Brashear 1818-1893).
Inscribed: Hand written in black ink in script on obverse of quilt at top center (within plain stuffed work border: "Dorcas G. Brashear/No.6"
