Description:
Turkey work cushion designed with stiff angular floral motifs including rose, heart's ease, and marigold in shades of green, yellow, black, and white. The term Turkey work refers to the Middle Eastern carpets upon which this type of textile was first modeled. Scholars now agree that Turkey work, long thought to be a form of needlework, is loom woven and hand knotted. In the 16th and 17th centuries, English carpet weaving was concentrated in London and East Anglia. Between 1600-1640, the designs for Turkey work cushion covers, chair covers, carpets, and bed hangings became far more European in design, the only Turkish idea remaining being the geometric center of the central field. These pile-woven textiles were recognized as an English speclaiity and were exported all over Europe, where they can be found on locally-produced chair frames. Whitle there is little question that most of the Turkey work listed in New England inventories were imported from England, some of them may have been domestically produced needlework imitations; and one important entry in the 1710 probate inventory of the merchant Heny Walcott of Windsor, Connecticut, for a "turkeywork loom" suggests that some women in New England may have made woven, hand-knotted Turkey work similar to the professional English product. This example may have once been a chair back; it does appear to have had borders, but may have been cut down. The black ground surrounding the flowers has deteriorated because the iron oxide used to produce the black color were highly acidic, while the vegetable dyes used ot produce the other colors are very stable. The lose of the black ground exposes the loose warp and weft probably made of hemp that is double-stranded in one direction and single stranded in the other. There is evidence for colonists' use of turkeywork for upholstery (chair seats) in the 1732/3 probate of Reverend Ebenezer Thayer of Roxbury, Massachusetts, who is listed as having owned "12 Turkeywork Chairs at 10/ apiece."
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+F.363 |
