Flowers in Red and Blue Basket
1849
Physical Qualities
Cotton, 16 7/8 x 17 in. (42.9 x 43.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Olive C. Slater
Object Number
1946.44t
Stylized variations on the floral theme can have significant graphic impact when composed of attractive combinations of shapes and colors. Simply designed album blocks with no pretense to realism, such as this example, can often be found alongside squares of the most sophisticated style. This design appears with slight differences on multiple quilts, suggesting the existence of a print source or pattern.
Appliqué is a 19th-century name for "applied work" in which pieces of fabric are sewn, embroidered, or otherwise fastened to another ground material to create a design. Appliqué is usually completed using either blind stitches, in which the raw edge of the fabric is turned under and sewn down so that the stitches are invisible or nearly invisible on the surface (as in this example), or buttonhole stitches, which both hide the raw edge of the applied fabric and add a decorative element. In this square, a variety of appliqué methods are employed, the simplest of which is seen in the single-layered appliqué used to form the stems and leaves of the flower motifs.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1946; Ms. Olive C. Slater.
Exhibited at The Hecht Company, Baltimore, MD, Sept. 29-October 15, 1971 in connection with exhibit at BMA: Dena S. Katzenberg, Baltimore Museum of Art, The Great American Cover-Up: Counterpanes of the 18th and 19th Centuries," Oct. 24, 1971-Dec. 5, 1972. Exhibit catalog does not include any of these album quilt squares. [Receipt from BMA to Hecht Co., A 2100 dated September, 29 1971; Album quilt squares 1946.44 b, c, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, s, t.]
Exhibited at Hutzler's Department store, Baltimore, MD, November 12th and November 30th, 1971 in connection with exhibit at BMA: Dena S. Katzenberg, Baltimore Museum of Art, The Great American Cover-Up: Counterpanes of the 18th and 19th Centuries," Oct. 24, 1971-Dec. 5, 1972. [Receipt from BMA to Hutzler's Department Store, A 2128 dated November 12, 1971; Album quilt squares 1946.44 b, c, j, k, l, n, q, t.]
Dena S. Katzenberg, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Baltimore Album Quilts," 1980-1982, catalog does not include 1946.44m, Circulated to: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Nov. 18, 1980-Jan. 11, 1981; Metropolitan Museum, New York, June 30, 1981-Aug. 30, 1981; BMA Dec. 13, 1981-Feb. 7, 1982.
*this square may or may not have been shown in this exhibit.
Anita Jones, Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Jean and Allan Berman Textile Gallery, "Baltimore Album Quilts Revisited: A Matter of Style," 1st rotation, July 3rd, 2008-Jan. 27th, 2009, no catalog.
Exhibited at Hutzler's Department store, Baltimore, MD, November 12th and November 30th, 1971 in connection with exhibit at BMA: Dena S. Katzenberg, Baltimore Museum of Art, The Great American Cover-Up: Counterpanes of the 18th and 19th Centuries," Oct. 24, 1971-Dec. 5, 1972. [Receipt from BMA to Hutzler's Department Store, A 2128 dated November 12, 1971; Album quilt squares 1946.44 b, c, j, k, l, n, q, t.]
Dena S. Katzenberg, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Baltimore Album Quilts," 1980-1982, catalog does not include 1946.44m, Circulated to: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Nov. 18, 1980-Jan. 11, 1981; Metropolitan Museum, New York, June 30, 1981-Aug. 30, 1981; BMA Dec. 13, 1981-Feb. 7, 1982.
*this square may or may not have been shown in this exhibit.
Anita Jones, Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Jean and Allan Berman Textile Gallery, "Baltimore Album Quilts Revisited: A Matter of Style," 1st rotation, July 3rd, 2008-Jan. 27th, 2009, no catalog.
