Christopher Wilson Tate at the Antique Textiles Company in London showed this British bedcover last year at the Houston Quilt Market.
It is dated and signed Mary Gibbs, 1812, quite an important quilt
in the database of panel quilts.
That central octagon certainly looks like a panel, although it
might be a regular repeat chintz carefully cut and framed.
Much like this central image in a similar quilt in the collection
of the Quilters Guild in York. The label notes the floral is cut and
framed: "pieced to emulate a block printed panel and then framed with a green sprigged strip."
In both an elongated hexagon shape creates an octagonal design with a light square in the center. Little information came with this quilt.
But Tate has examined the bird fabric and he believes it's
a panel "not seen on an antique quilt before," We will
have to agree with him.
Do note the oak-style leaves shaded from yellow to green. Very much
in the style of Bannister Hall.
The quilt is important not only for its unusual panel but also for it's date.
The bad news is another date-inscribed quilt means we have to re-do the analysis. We now have 8 British quilts ranging from 1810 to 1834.
The good news is that it doesn't skew the data older or newer. The British dated quilts still range from 1810 to 1834, which means even though we have a small sample the sample seems to be representative.
