Bird of Paradise Quilt Top1858–186317 x 30 7/8 x 1/4 " (43.2 x 78.4 x 0.6 cm)Cotton, wool, and silk with ink and silk embroideryGift of the Trustees of the American Folk Art Museum1979.7.10quilt with appliqué1534421838Artist unidentifiedTextilesThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain. Vicinity of AlbanyVicinity of AlbanyUnited StatesNew YorkTextilesVicinity of AlbanyIncludes reverse applique, chain stitchTEXTILEThis 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’s 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, “Bird of Paradise Quilt Top,” 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—the pairs of animals, the nesting birds, the fruits and flowers—add weight to the supposition that it was made either by or for a bride-to-be. The elephant identified here as “Hanible” 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’s association with that area.appliqued quilt18581863 1979 7 1 TEXTILEThis 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’s 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, “Bird of Paradise Quilt Top,” 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—the pairs of animals, the nesting birds, the fruits and flowers—add weight to the supposition that it was made either by or for a bride-to-be. The elephant identified here as “Hanible” 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’s association with that area.appliqued quilt