Quilt, Birds in Air pattern

Annie E. Freshour Schaeffer

before 1891 · Cotton · The American Wing

In the years around the middle of the nineteenth century, many quilt makers began to fashion quilts made with designs using red and green fabrics on a crisp white background. Many such red and green quilts, including our Crib Quilt (1991.42), Tulip Quilt (1998.87.2) and some squares of Album Quilts (1988.134; 52.103) feature bold floral appliqués made with solid-color fabrics. It is hard to know exactly why the trend for using only red and green fabrics on a white background became so popular in the period. One possible reason is the greater availability by the middle of the nineteenth century of the bright red colorfast cotton known as Turkey red. Although most red and green quilts are appliquéd, the strongly graphic quilt seen here, which is immaculately pieced with white, solid red, and printed green fabrics in an overall pattern of small right triangles, is a more unusual example. Clearly a special quilt, it was made of all newly bought cottons and was barely ever used. It was passed down through three generations before entering the Museum’s collection.

Artist

Annie E. Freshour Schaeffer

Date

before 1891

Medium

Cotton

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Purchase, Mrs. Roger Brunschwig Gift, 1990