Temperance
1846
Physical Qualities
Cotton; cotton and possibly silk embroidery threads, ink, 18 x 17 3/4 in. (45.7 x 45.1 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Robert V. Brawley, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Object Number
1981.149
An album quilt square consisting of a muslin ground with designs created through appliqué, reverse appliqué, and layered appliqué with additional elements drawn in ink. Motifs include a fountain surmounted by an eagle holding a banner which reads, "The FOUNDTAIN OF HEALTH." Flanking the fountain are two cornucopias filled with flowers. Above each cornucopia is a bird. Between the lower portion of the fountain and the cornucopia horns are two mallets. At center bottom is a poem "Temperance" and at the upper left is another banner held in a bird's beak with the name "Mary Ann O'Laughlin" and below the date "1847." Fabrics used include brown, blue, and green rainbow prints, a yellow-ground print, a pink and white check, and Turkey-red solids. The ribbons or banners with `their mottos or inscriptions, the water spurting out of the fountain, the poem, and the details on roses are drawn with ink. The square is lined with muslin.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1981; Robert Brawley, Winston-Salem, NC.
Museum interns, Eaglemania: Furor over the National Emblem in Maryland Arts 1782-1867, The Baltimore Museum of Art, August 12 - October 7, 1977.
Dena S. Katzenberg, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Baltimore Album Quilts," 1980-1982, p. 60, ill. p. 60., 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.
Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Sweet Dreams: Quilts and Coverlets from the Collection," Oct. 26-Dec. 31, 1994, no catalog.
Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Baltimore Album Quilts: Appliquéd Artistry," Nov. 5, 2003-May 9, 2004, no catalog.
Anita Jones, Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Jean and Allan Berman Textile Gallery, "Baltimore Album Quilts Revisited: A Matter of Style," 2nd rotation, July 3rd, 2008-Jan. 27th, 2009, no catalog.
Dena S. Katzenberg, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Baltimore Album Quilts," 1980-1982, p. 60, ill. p. 60., 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.
Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Sweet Dreams: Quilts and Coverlets from the Collection," Oct. 26-Dec. 31, 1994, no catalog.
Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Baltimore Album Quilts: Appliquéd Artistry," Nov. 5, 2003-May 9, 2004, no catalog.
Anita Jones, Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Jean and Allan Berman Textile Gallery, "Baltimore Album Quilts Revisited: A Matter of Style," 2nd rotation, July 3rd, 2008-Jan. 27th, 2009, no catalog.
Inscribed: Hand written in ink within banderole held by bird at upper (viewer's) left: "Mary Ann O'Laughlin"; Hand written in ink below this: "1847" Handwritten in ink using block letters within banderole held by bird's beak, center top: "The FOUNTAIN of HEALTH" Handwritten in ink below the fountain: "Temperance/ Spring up O well sweet Fountain spring/Sing ye that drink the waters sing/With Flowers adorn with verdure drest/And Ever the Cause of Temperance bless."
