{"object":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"1838"},"copyright":{"label":"Copyright","value":"The American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain."},"creditline":{"label":"Credit Line","value":"Gift of the Trustees of the American Folk Art Museum"},"endDate":{"label":"End Date","value":"1863"},"sortNumber":{"label":"Sort Number","value":"1979     7    1"},"invno":{"label":"Accession number","value":"1979.7.1"},"description":{"label":"Description","value":"quilt with appliqué"},"medium":{"label":"Medium","value":"Cotton, wool, and silk with ink and silk embroidery"},"geographyPlaceregion":{"label":"Place/Region","value":"Vicinity of Albany"},"media":{"label":"Media","value":{"mediaURL":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/21384/full","mediaDepartment":"Object Photographs","mediaType":"Image","mediaId":"21384"}},"title":{"label":"Title","value":"Bird of Paradise Quilt Top"},"geographyCity":{"value":"Vicinity of Albany"},"paperSupport":{"label":"Paper Support","value":"Includes reverse applique, chain stitch"},"textEntriesWebsitedisplaytext":{"value":["TEXTILE","This joyful appliquéd quilt top abounds with images that evoke marriage, fruitfulness, family, and home: a table laden with wine and food; birds hovering over their nests of eggs; pairs of animals. The border is alive with flowers, leaves, birds, butterflies, gamboling animals, and race horses with their names carefully noted on fabric labels. One unusual block features a bird of paradise, and another the animal trainer Benjamin Frank Thomas with his famous elephant, Hannibal. The horses depicted include the champion Morgan racehorse Black Hawk and some of the sons he sired.The templates used for the appliqués were cut from newspapers and, remarkably, have survived with the quilt top. They encompass the years 1858 through 1863 and were published primarily in Poughkeepsie and Albany. During those years, Hannibal was performing in the Van Amburgh circuses that appeared in New York City and traveled throughout the Hudson Valley, reinforcing the quilt top\u2019s association with that area. A careful visual reading shows that the center appliqués are devoted to fertile imagery, crowned by a female figure at the top. The block next to her, though, has only botanical appliqués. The paper templates include a male figure, clearly intended to also be placed at the top. As the quilt was made during the years of the Civil War, it is surmised that the intended husband did not survive, and the quilt was never finished.Stacy C. Hollander, \u201cBird of Paradise Quilt Top,\u201d exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014. Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.　To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org ","The figures on this quilt top were made using templates cut from newsprint and other papers dating from 1858 to 1863 that were handed down with the textile. Because this collection of patterns includes the figure of a man who does not appear on the appropriate spot next to the woman on the quilt top, this bedcover may have been made in anticipation of a wedding that did not take place and for that reason was never quilted and completed. The many symbols of union and fertility on the quilt top\u2014the pairs of animals, the nesting birds, the fruits and flowers\u2014add weight to the supposition that it was made either by or for a bride-to-be. The elephant identified here as \u201cHanible\u201d was part of a number of traveling circuses, but from 1860 to 1863 local ads advertised Hannibal as performing in the Van Amburgh traveling circuses in New York City and throughout the Hudson Valley, reinforcing the quilt top\u2019s association with that area.","appliqued quilt"]},"bibliography":{"label":"Bibliography","value":""},"collections":{"label":"Collections","value":"Textiles"},"geography":{"label":"Geography","value":"Vicinity of Albany"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"153442"},"geographyState":{"value":"New York"},"geographyCountry":{"value":"United States"},"onview":{"label":"On View","value":"0"},"people":{"label":"Artist / Maker","value":{"displayOrder":"1","personRole":"Artist","personID":"103","content":"Artist unidentified"}},"classifications":{"label":"Classification(s)","value":"Textiles"},"textEntries":{"label":"Text Entries","value":["TEXTILE","This joyful appliquéd quilt top abounds with images that evoke marriage, fruitfulness, family, and home: a table laden with wine and food; birds hovering over their nests of eggs; pairs of animals. The border is alive with flowers, leaves, birds, butterflies, gamboling animals, and race horses with their names carefully noted on fabric labels. One unusual block features a bird of paradise, and another the animal trainer Benjamin Frank Thomas with his famous elephant, Hannibal. The horses depicted include the champion Morgan racehorse Black Hawk and some of the sons he sired.The templates used for the appliqués were cut from newspapers and, remarkably, have survived with the quilt top. They encompass the years 1858 through 1863 and were published primarily in Poughkeepsie and Albany. During those years, Hannibal was performing in the Van Amburgh circuses that appeared in New York City and traveled throughout the Hudson Valley, reinforcing the quilt top\u2019s association with that area. A careful visual reading shows that the center appliqués are devoted to fertile imagery, crowned by a female figure at the top. The block next to her, though, has only botanical appliqués. The paper templates include a male figure, clearly intended to also be placed at the top. As the quilt was made during the years of the Civil War, it is surmised that the intended husband did not survive, and the quilt was never finished.Stacy C. Hollander, \u201cBird of Paradise Quilt Top,\u201d exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014. Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.　To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org ","The figures on this quilt top were made using templates cut from newsprint and other papers dating from 1858 to 1863 that were handed down with the textile. Because this collection of patterns includes the figure of a man who does not appear on the appropriate spot next to the woman on the quilt top, this bedcover may have been made in anticipation of a wedding that did not take place and for that reason was never quilted and completed. The many symbols of union and fertility on the quilt top\u2014the pairs of animals, the nesting birds, the fruits and flowers\u2014add weight to the supposition that it was made either by or for a bride-to-be. The elephant identified here as \u201cHanible\u201d was part of a number of traveling circuses, but from 1860 to 1863 local ads advertised Hannibal as performing in the Van Amburgh traveling circuses in New York City and throughout the Hudson Valley, reinforcing the quilt top\u2019s association with that area.","appliqued quilt"]},"beginDate":{"label":"Begin Date","value":"1858"},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"1858\u20131863"},"exhibitions":{"label":"Exhibitions","value":[{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Sunday, September 14, 1980 - Sunday, December 7, 1980","exhibitionEndISODate":"1980-12-07","exhibitionID":"329","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"1980-09-14","exhibitionBeginDate":"1980","exhibitionTitle":"American Folk Art \u2013 The View from New York","exhibitionEndDate":"1980"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - Sunday, August 23, 2009","exhibitionEndISODate":"2009-08-23","exhibitionID":"132","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2004-11-16","exhibitionBeginDate":"2004","exhibitionTitle":"Folk Art Revealed","exhibitionEndDate":"2009"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Tuesday, September 11, 1979 - Sunday, September 16, 1979","exhibitionEndISODate":"1979-09-16","exhibitionID":"400","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"1979-09-11","exhibitionBeginDate":"1979","exhibitionTitle":"Classics from the Collection of the Museum of American Folk Art","exhibitionEndDate":"1979"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Thursday, March 16, 2023 - Sunday, October 29, 2023","exhibitionEndISODate":"2023-10-29","exhibitionID":"248","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2023-03-16","exhibitionBeginDate":"2023","exhibitionTitle":"What That Quilt Knows About Me","exhibitionEndDate":"2023"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Saturday, April 18, 1981 - Sunday, August 23, 1981","exhibitionEndISODate":"1981-08-23","exhibitionID":"270","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"1981-04-19","exhibitionBeginDate":"1981","exhibitionTitle":"Anonymous Beauty: Quilts, Coverlets and Bed Covers","exhibitionEndDate":"1981"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Tuesday, May 13, 2014 - Sunday, August 17, 2014","exhibitionEndISODate":"2014-08-17","exhibitionID":"171","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2014-05-13","exhibitionBeginDate":"2014","exhibitionTitle":"Self-Taught Genius","exhibitionEndDate":"2014"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Thursday, July 11, 2002 - Sunday, January 5, 2003","exhibitionEndISODate":"2003-01-26","exhibitionID":"73","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2002-07-11","exhibitionBeginDate":"2002","exhibitionTitle":"American Anthem","exhibitionEndDate":"2003"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Thursday, September 13, 1990 - Sunday, December 2, 1990","exhibitionEndISODate":"1990-12-02","exhibitionID":"1","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"1990-09-13","exhibitionBeginDate":"1990","exhibitionTitle":"Five-Star Folk Art","exhibitionEndDate":"1990"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Saturday, May 4, 1996 - Sunday, September 8, 1996","exhibitionEndISODate":"1996-09-08","exhibitionID":"82","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"1996-05-04","exhibitionBeginDate":"1996","exhibitionTitle":"An American Treasury","exhibitionEndDate":"1996"}]},"dimensions":{"label":"Dimensions","value":"17 x 30 7/8 x 1/4 \" (43.2 x 78.4 x 0.6 cm)"}}]}