Sunday, August 18, 2019

Panel #12: MayFlower/Hydrangea


Panel 12 features a compound floral that looks like a hydrangea to us Americans, but it's probably a hawthorne, England's mayflower.

Mayflower

Corner detail even has the mayflower's freckles.

Oak Leaf Hydrangea: similar leaves

See more on mayflowers at Terry Terrell's webpage: Flowers on Chintz

The nosegay is framed by a floral wreath.

And in the corners two different images....

 one corner with the mayflower, trimmed in Philoclea Eve's quilt. 

Quilt attributed to Philoclea Eve
Atlanta History Center

It's difficult to get the oval shapes right in some of these panels as the photos are often taken at an angle. Looking at an entire quilt gives us some idea of the correct shapes. Panel #12 plays a supporting role in several quilts we've been showing that have a variety of small panels. 

Detail of a quilt auctioned at Skinner's.

Smaller panels numbered below:


Note that the small panels are about the same size. It's hard to see that in the individual photos but when you look at this top your realize how consistent they are in size and proportion.

From a South Carolina estate
Collection of Glorian Sipman

Quilt 9
Unfinished top from Historic Columbia (South Carolina)

Collection of the Winterthur Museum
Here are the parts of Panel 12 reconstructed into a vignette to frame Panel#5 and its parts.
Center, frame and corners.

From William Dunton's Old Quilts, 1946

We see a few of Panel 12 inside the large scallops in this Baltimore bedcover from Dunton's book with panel #5, the fruit basket, in the center.


Basted top in two pieces in the style of the Wilkins/Goodwin
family quilts of Baltimore.

And this is what it would look like when finished.
Collection of the DAR Museum
Gift of the Volckening family

Trimmed Panel #12 inside the outer swags.

It's interesting  how many bedcovers with Panel #2 in a starring role have support from #12.

Collection of Rowan Museum, Rowan County, North Carolina
10 small panels (12 & 13)  accenting Panel #2
Quilt attributed to Jane Locke Graham.
The small panels are similar but a close look reveals there are two.



Perhaps this Jane...
Jane Locke Graham Young Carson (1826-1904)
Rowan County, North Carolina


Finally a South Carolina album dated in ink 1855 with a block using the entire panel---center, frame and corners of #12. This gives us a view of how the panel may have been printed with quite a bit of white space around each image.

Collection of the Spartanburg County Historical Association, 
signed by area residents
It's a late addition to the database and now the
latest dated panel quilt at 1855.

So far, we haven't found one photo of Panel #12 in a British quilt.

What Have We Learned From Panel #12


Smaller panels like the Mayflower are most often seen as accents to these two larger panels,
which have much style in common. We'd guess #2 & #5 were printed by the same English mill at the same time and perhaps sold together (marketed to upholsterers?). We have far more American quilts with the fruit basket #5 (right now almost 60) indicating the fruit basket was probably imported in greater quantity than any other chintz panel. 

Philoclea's Quilt
Panel 12 with bits from Panel 5

Were the smaller panels also from the same mill designed and sold as part of a suite of prints?