Baltimore Album
Quilt
Sells for $58,000
by Patricia
Cummings
photos by John Glenfield
Center block features an eagle
that carries an
"E pluribus unum" banner: "Out of many, one."
Rarely does a Baltimore Album quilt come up for auction, and when one is offered, there is
bound to be a lot of excitement, especially by aficionados of this specific
mid-nineteenth century quilt genre. Such was the case in February 2006 when
Northeast Auctions advertised a
106” x 108” unfinished quilt with
twenty-five appliqué blocks, as well as, elaborate appliquéd floral borders,
the work of an expert needlewoman. The original owner of the quilt is
believed to have been Elizabeth MacCullough (married name: Hervey), born in 1822. The fact that the
quilt is not finished does not detract from the enjoyment of seeing its
beautiful workmanship. Apparently, this treasure's new owner agrees, as
he/she willingly paid $58,000. for the quilt.
Pre-Auction Photos Were Allowed
After learning
that the quilt could be viewed prior to the auction, Jeanne and John
Glenfield of Bedford, New Hampshire trekked to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to
see this magnificent beauty firsthand. As a quilter herself, Jeanne has a
special interest in Baltimore Album quilts, and has studied at Elly
Sienkiewicz's Appliqué Academy, a yearly event. After receiving permission
to take photos, John went to work. Courtesy of Jeanne and John, those photos
are shared here with you. (Thank you so much!)
Baltimore Album Quilt-picture of the
whole quilt top.
Overall View
Stunning
In the overall
photo that was published before the auction, one could see that all of the
blocks are the same size (approximately 18") and they connect with
each other directly, with no additional separations of sashings, or other
plain, alternate, blocks. There are four floral borders.
Cornucopias
Cornucopias are a common design in Baltimore Album quilts. In this quilt, each corner features
a cornucopia shape with
horizontal lines. Elaborate sprays of flowers are contained by each one.
Curiously, just one cornucopia is unlike the others in that it includes a
pineapple, an early American “welcome” symbol. The quilt on the cover of
The Baltimore Album Quilt Tradition, Maryland Historical Society also
features four cornucopias, one in each corner, (with vertical stripes).
Similarly, one of those cornucopias contains a pineapple at the very top.
The Clipper ships are detailed,
as well, one in particular with its inkings on the sails and porticos, its
customary four flags, and the way in which the blue ombre fabric was cut to
create "waves" underneath the boat, in the photo to the right.
Please
click on any image to see a much larger view. Use your "back" button on your
browser to return to this page.
Like other
Baltimore Album quilts, the MacCullough quilt includes floral wreaths, two
Clipper ships, baskets of flowers, a bird carrying an "Album,"
a
peace dove bearing an olive branch, and three pictorial scenes of a hunter,
a young couple, and two soldiers flanking a tent.
Delightful Pictorial Scenes
Offer Detailed Figures
Tent Blocks
Photo of the Russell quilt taken at the Baltimore Museum of Art
by Barbara Burnham, and used here with her permission.
Please click on image for a larger view.
The same style of
tent appears in Baltimore Album Quilts (117), but in that design
there are no soldiers, just Masonic
symbols. That quilt was made for Captain George R. Russell in 1852 and is owned by the Baltimore Museum of Art.
A Baltimore Album Block from the MacCullough-Hervey Quilt
A similar block that contains a tent shape, flanked by two flags, a soldier on either side of the tent, and an
ombre eagle hovering overhead can be seen in the book, Lavish Legacies by
Jennifer Faulds Goldsborough, Maryland Historical Society, 1994), Figure 32, page 19.
Eagle
The stylized
eagle, that has dewdrop shapes on its wings and neck, created by reverse
appliqué, can be seen in the very center of the quilt. The bird, a symbol of
American freedom, is constructed with brown ombre fabric, often a choice of
Mary Simon, one of three (to possibly six) major designers of
Baltimore Album quilts. Ombre fabric was also called fondu
fabric or rainbow prints. Either of the three names denotes cloth that
possesses gradations of color, from light to dark. Blue ombre fabrics seem
to have been chosen often for depicting “waves” below Clipper ships, again,
in a very stylistic shape.
This same eagle
design with a flag, union shield, and partial swag of roses, shows up in
other Baltimore Album Quilts, as seen in other sources. A similar eagle
block and a similar hunter pictorial scene appear on the surface of a
Baltimore Album quilt dated 1847-1850, “makers unidentified,” in the book,
Baltimore Album Quilts by Dena S. Katzenberg (The Baltimore Museum of
Art, 1981), 99, in a quilt owned
privately in Maryland.
Mary Simon, Designer
The red
baskets, created with the use of thin, bias strips, are commonly seen
on Baltimore Album quilts.
There are compelling reasons to agree that the designs seen
in the MacCullough quilt can be attributed to designer, Mary Simon. One of
her trademarks is the use of the tied, blue, ribbon bow. An example of that
can be seen atop a floral basket. There are two baskets that are alike in
that they are both red, and they both have square shapes on each side.
The similarities end there, however, as they are not the same
size, nor of the exact same configuration. One adds the color yellow-green,
as a base, and one basket is smaller than the other. Yet the two baskets are
juxtaposed in the center of the quilt, on either side of the eagle block.
On left
above, is a typical blue ribbon bow, indicative of the work of Mary Simon.
On the right is a floral wreath with white roses, a feature previously
attributed to Mary Evans.
Quilt is Nicely
Viewed From Any Angle
Like many quilts
of this type, the quilt that features the blocks shown here, plus additional
blocks, can be enjoyed from any angle, “even diagonally,” as pointed out by
the editors of Maine Antique Digest, the newspaper that advertised
this piece. The quilt is certainly very “lush” with design elements, and
intricate details.
The seller stated,
in an online advertisement, that, "A Baltimore Album quilt of similar
composition and size, and a virtually identical floral border was in the
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy Nicholson, (and) sold at Christie's January
1995, lot 883."
Quilt is Charming
The MacCullough
quilt is nothing short of charming as you can see in the close-up photos.
Notice the inking for the stamens and rose adornments. Look at how the
quilter isolated portions of fabric to make them “work” well as leaves.
Especially, see the Chintz fabric that was cut up in such a precise manner
so as to create “believeable” roses. Examine the details on the clothing.
All of the design components work well together and bespeak fine
workmanship.
Also, take note of
the many white, roses throughout the composition. The choice of white roses
was, at one time, thought to have been designed by Mary Evans, although in
light of more recent information, that view may have changed, with credit
being awarded instead to Mary Simon. The white, gauze-like, white cloth is
so thin as to be transparent.
The fine details
on the “tent block” are amazing! The quilter has placed overlapping circles,
in a triadic color combination of yellow, red, and blue, into a circular
layout that confines the design elements. She has added intricate facial
features for the soldiers, and other small motifs that add interest to the
block.
Every block in
this quilt is exquisite and a true inspiration!
Above, the beige basket block has
two ever-so-cool birds, of a kind and coloration that we would never see in
real life. Quiltmaking is fantasy land and anything goes! The body of the
pineapple appears to have been inked. Some of the leaves are divided,
featuring two different colors: yellow and brown.
Provenance
Elizabeth
MacCullough married James Beasley Hervey who was born in Baltimore in 1818.
Elizabeth who may or may not have been the originator of this quilt, was
born in 1822. She would have been about twenty years old at the beginning of
the Baltimore Quilt trend. Why was the quilt never completed? Was the
quilter called
to eternity before she could complete the awesome task she had set out to
do? The quilt was passed down through the family. The seller claimed to
have additional provenance information that he would impart to the buyer.
Link to our First
Article on this Subject
The heyday of
these quilts lasted from approximately 1842-1855. To read more about the
history of Baltimore Album quilts, as a general overview, please see my
previous article:
http://www.quiltersmuse.com/baltimore_album_quilts.htm
Stamped Mark
Also, there is a
curious mark on the back of the quilt that is stamped onto the plain muslin
fabric. It says simply, “Waltham Finish.”
Corner border of the quilt
History
The more we find
out, the more we want to discover. With current interest in quilt history,
we are learning more all the time. In 2006, Uncoverings, a
publication of the American Quilt Study Group, (free with membership)
feature a research paper that has information about Jewish women who made
Baltimore Album quilts in the mid-nineteenth century.
American Quilt
Study Group:
http://www.h-net.org/~aqsg/
NOTICE:
After three online
articles about Baltimore Album quilts were published by Patricia Cummings, a
note was received from
researcher, Ronda Harrell McAllen.
McAllen states that written genealogical
information about Mary Simon found in books by other noted authors is
incorrect. They apparently relied upon previous written reports when
preparing their manuscripts and overlooked the need to check primary source
documents.
At the October 2006 seminar of the
American Quilt Study Group, held at Farmington, Connecticut, McAllen presented new information via her research paper entitled, "Jewish Baltimore Album Quilts."
McAllen is currently seeking certification as a professional genealogist from the Board
of Certified Genealogists. She has located documents, related to Mary Simon
and her family, that date
back to seventeenth century Germany.
Her findings are now published in
"Uncoverings," the journal of the American Quilt Study Group.
An Autumn Wreath with
Acorns and Lovebirds
June 22, 2006 - Click on the blue link below to see
PART TWO OF
THIS CURRENT ARTICLE. Due to requests from our
readers, we have added more photos and information about this auction quilt.
Credits
Photos formatted by James Cummings
We would like to thank John and Jeanne Glenfield for providing the photos for this article. A photo is worth more than a thousand words!
An additional photo in this file is shown here, courtesy of Barbara Burnham
We would also like
to thank Ronald Bourgeault, LLC., of Northeast Auctions for granting
permission for the Glenfields to photograph the quilt.
www.northeastauctions.com
We hope that you
have enjoyed this special feature brought to you by Quilter's Muse
Publications.
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