Description:
Printed and hand painted canvas floorcloth decorated with paired birds at a fountain in the center encircled with a ring of flowers, triangular masses of flowers on the top and bottom, and a wide border of repeated flowers and fern swirls, all in blue, red, white and grey on a black background, around the four edges. Painted or stenciled table covers were one of the earliest forms of decoration used in American homes; other stenciled forms included stenciled floorcloths, first made as early as about 1650 and used into the 1850s, and stenciled bedhangings and bedspreads, all of which served as substitutes for the more costly embroidered items. Very few stenciled fabrics have survived; it is thought that most were made from 1825-1840. Those that have survived have been found primarily in Connecticut and Vermont such as this example which was found in Orwell, Vermont. The composition of this and other, similar surviving examples suggests a rug or floor pattern. This example may have been a drugget or crumb cloth. The very finely decorated pattern is similar to pontyopol or toleware decoration. Probably printed with raised metal, includng curves and points. The backing, a fairly thin cotton, is similar to contemporary painted window shades. See notes in data file from Marylou Davis. WACC lab number 94-OB-98. Block or roller printed with hand painted flourishes, with tack holes extant along one edge, the cloth was probably produced for a parlor hearth setting, the combination of black background, fine print, decorative paintwork, and colors resemble British Pontypool (painted toleware), border pattern alternates between two colors creating an irise effect, the whole composition conveys visual delicacy similar to lacework.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+91.055 |
