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“Star of Bethlehem” Quilt

1859-1879

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“Star of Bethlehem” Quilt

1859-1879

Physical Qualities Cotton, Overall: 100 x 98 in. (254 x 248.9 cm.)
Credit Line Gift of Patricia Z. Gardner, Sparks, Maryland
Object Number 2007.193
A square quilt composed of five stars pieced of printed fabrics including: an orange-red ground with small black and white figure, a yellow-green ground with small yellow crescents on dark green circles and dark green dots, a cinnamon pink/double pink with grotesque figural print and a cheddar yellow ground with white dashes and black dots. These are pieced with large portion of a chocolate brown cotton ground printed with black flecks. The quilt top is surrounded on all sides with five borders: three of a dark blue-green ground with black paisley print (each approx. 2 in. wide)allternating with two borders of double pink fabric with vermiculate print (each approx. 1 to 1-1/2 in. wide). The back is seamed from pieces of one fabric, a cotton print with light brown and dark brown pattern on white, which appears to be without definite motifs or pattern until seen under a magnifying glass. The quilt is bound in a double pink printed cotton, different from that used in the quilt top. The binding is applied by hand with approximately 1/2 in. showing on both the top and reverse of the quilt. The quilt top is pieced by hand. . Each diamond patch is outlined in quilt stitches and the background is quilted in diamonds (or squares on point). The borders are quilted in rope pattern. Quilting is by hand in a light-colored or white thread in 17 and 24 stitches per inch. Quilt is equipped with a sleeve at the top.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2007; Patricia Zug Gardner (1928-2011), Sparks, MD, by descent.
Eileen Jahnke Trestain, "Dating Fabrics: A Color Guide 1800-1960, Paducah, KY: American Quilter's Society, 1998, p. 59, pp. 78-80; p. 84, p. 89, p. 90 for similar fabrics.

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